Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our FY26 results call. Joining me today are Sasha Nikolic and Andy Young.

I'm going to start with an overview of the year and then a recap of our strategy. Sasha will then share how the business is tracking.

Andy will then take you through the financials before I cover the outlook and we open to questions. Before we begin, please note all figures are in Australian dollars unless otherwise stated.

Turning to an overview of FY26, we delivered sales revenue of $9.4 billion, which was up 4.5% on the prior year. EBITDA was flat at $901 million, and EBIT was down 2.6% to $534 million.

In ANZ, sales was up 8% driven by higher volumes with a 2% inflation contribution. In the US, sales were up 6.5% driven by network expansion and also a 2% inflation contribution.

Like-for-like sales in the US were down 1.7% as weak new residential construction continued to impact demand. Earnings per share were 49.5 cents, and return on capital was 11.9%.

Total dividend increased 2.6% to 18.84 cents per share, fully franked, with growth supported by the share buyback. Turning to recap our strategy.

Everything we do at Reece is guided by our blueprint from purpose to promise. It shapes the decisions we make every day, both big and small.

Our purpose and values are what we call the Reece Way. Our 2030 vision is a clear ambition to be our trade's most valuable partner by being easy to do business with in every branch, on every screen, every day.

We bring this to life through our three strategic priorities: operational excellence, breakthrough innovation, and investing for profitable growth. The blueprint culminates in the delivery of our customer promise, which is what we call customized service.

Before I hand over to Sasha, it is worth reminding everyone on the call of our approach to building a stronger business through the cycle. Our ownership structure, balance sheet, and blueprint combine to allow us to take a long-term perspective and think in years, not quarters.

Our ANZ business demonstrates how we've benefited from this approach over time. In the US, we are eight years in, and this approach is helping us to build the foundations for success over the long term.

I'll now hand over to Sash.

Thanks, Peter. Just further to what Peter said, for more than a century, through various cycles, we have been in business in Australia.

The scale of our ANZ network remains one of our biggest advantages. We have also continued to invest in and upgrade our network, improving standards and formats this year, including opening a next-generation showroom that I will touch on in a moment.

We also continue to invest in our people, introducing a new long-term incentive plan and continuing to build capabilities through learning and development programs. In the digital space, we are focused on making Reece easier to do business with and freeing up more time to serve.

This year, we cascaded Copilot to all levels of the business and launched proprietary AI tools, which helps us serve customers better. Finally, our longstanding supply partnerships and supply chain capabilities allowed us to maintain a strong in-stock position through recent supply chain disruptions, which continues to be a real competitive advantage for Reece.

Turning to innovation, our new bathroom showroom in Rosebery, in Sydney, represents a vision for a digitally led space for collaboration. It was built on deep customer insights and supports designers, trades, and consumers to bring their dream bathrooms to life.

We will open a second next-gen showroom in Armadale, in Victoria, in FY27. Finally, in the product space, we have been extending, optimizing, and innovating to continue delivering the highest quality range.

Turning to the US, we continue to build the density and scale of the network, opening a net 25 new branches during the year, following the 24 branches which we added in FY25. The performance of the new branches continues to improve, reinforcing our strategy to better serve customers with a differentiated proposition.

We anticipate opening 15 to 20 new branches per annum as we continue to expand our presence in the US. We also continued embedding core capabilities across the US business this year with a particular focus on team development and digital initiatives.

We launched a new version of our maX app with a more intuitive user experience, a version in Spanish, and enhanced self-service functionality for customers. In the US, we have also made progress extending and uplifting our range, which has been a key part of improving our customer experience.

Finally, we are investing in our people, introducing the same new long-term incentive plan as ANZ and building capabilities from the ground up, the Reece Way. Before I hand over to Andy, I wanted to reflect on the growth in the eight years since we acquired our US business.

In that time, we have significantly grown our network, grown our team, and improved the customer experience. While there is still a lot more to do, we are laying the foundations for a stronger business.

The environment is what we get to operate in. How we respond and what we do is what's within our control.

That's it for me. I will now hand over to Andy to go through the financials.

Thank you, Sasha, and good morning, everyone. Starting with ANZ, sales revenue for the year was up 8.3% driven by higher volumes with a 2% inflation contribution.

Costs remained elevated, reflecting continued investment in the business, including in our network, team capability, digital initiatives, and a new long-term equity program. Excluding discretionary investment, underlying costs continue to be tightly managed and are growing at less than the annualized rate of inflation.

EBIT was up 6% to $360 million with our EBIT margin at 8.6%, down 17 basis points year on year. This reflects a $10 million impact from the amortization of the Metalflex brand name following our decision to integrate the Metalflex business with our broader HVAC customer offer.

Excluding this, ANZ's EBIT margin was up 7 basis points year on year. Turning to the US, sales were up 6.5% to USD 3.5 billion driven by incremental sales from recent network expansion with a 2% inflation contribution.

On a like-for-like basis, US sales declined by 1.7% year on year with the second half broadly flat. The residential construction segment remained soft, while the nonresidential segment has proven more resilient.

EBITDA declined 5% for the year with our EBITDA margin decreasing 83 basis points. EBIT of $118 million was down 13%, and our EBIT margin contracted 76 basis points, primarily driven by new branches which are continuing to scale.

Turning now to look at the group's cash flow and balance sheet. The group generated net operating cash inflows of $645 million for the year.

Capital expenditure represented 1.9% of sales, which was down on the prior year. This primarily reflects timing with a significant portion of capital spend for this year's branch expansion program incurred in the second half of FY25.

Gross interest expense for the year was $66 million, and based on current debt levels, we expect gross interest expense in the range of $60 to $70 million in FY27. We also returned $401 million of capital to shareholders through share buybacks, demonstrating the strength of the balance sheet and our disciplined approach to capital allocation.

The group's net working capital to sales ratio was 19%, in line with the prior year. Inventory investment to support network expansion and our in-stock promise to customers was partially offset by favorable timing movements in other working capital balances.

Net debt increased to $744 million, reflecting ongoing investment in the business and partial funding of the group's share buyback program. The group's net leverage ratio reduced in the second half driven by stronger operating cash flow generation, exiting FY26 with net debt at 1 times EBITDA, down from 1.5 times at December.

Our return profile continues to reflect a combination of softer housing market conditions and the investment in network expansion in recent years. As Peter mentioned, we take a through-the-cycle view, and as market conditions improve and the impact associated with recent growth investments begins to moderate, we expect our return profile to strengthen over time.

I will now hand back to Peter to take us through our capital management approach and the outlook.

Thanks, Andy. Our capital management approach, as everyone knows, is guided by a clear framework.

Our first priority is to invest in the growth of the business through organic investments and strategic acquisition opportunities. Our second priority is to maintain a strong balance sheet, ensuring we retain the flexibility to invest through the cycle and capitalize on growth opportunities.

Our third priority is to deliver returns to shareholders. Turning now to the outlook.

If we look ahead to FY27, in the ANZ region, we are entering the new financial year with a solid pipeline of activity, which should support first half momentum. In the US, the residential new construction market remains challenging, and the timing of a housing recovery is still not clear.

The nonresidential segment in the US has been stronger, supported by the data center buildout. Overall, we would expect modest growth in the US.

In both markets, consumers remain interest-rate sensitive, and housing affordability challenges represent a risk for the outlook, making it too early to take a view on the second half. In summary, we remain positioned for success over the long term.

We do have a trusted brand and a long-term focus. We are diversified and operate in large markets with attractive fundamentals.

We have a strong balance sheet and a track record of delivering through the cycle. Thank you.

I'll now open the line to questions.

Thank you. Thanks, Peter, Andy, Sasha.

Peter, just wanted to get your sense of how you're thinking about the unfolding of the ANZ environment over the next 12 months. You've spoken about the pipeline.

I suppose history has shown us that pipelines often take a little bit longer to work through, but this one didn't have much time to gain too much momentum. Just your perspective on how you're thinking about the support of that pipeline through the course of the year and what your thinking is around the R&R market in an Australian context.

Thanks, Peter. If we start with the R&R part, as it is the most resilient part of our business and what the Australian business was sort of built around.

We've had a track record of working through all different cycles with that. The main drivers of R&R over the years, particularly the last 30 years, have been house prices.

Obviously the age of the housing stock, sentiment, and all those sorts of things. My only caveat would be everyone knows that with the change to government policy settings, there has been a softening in house prices.

We know that there is a reduction in the auction clearance rates. That would be the only caveat to what has traditionally been a very resilient part to our business.

In terms of the new construction and the residential part, we did finish the second half with fairly good momentum, and it looks like staying that way for the first half. Again, the only caveat is we've had three interest rate rises and that's a big driver of the residential housing market.

Then the only other one there that everyone is talking about is the whole where we go with affordability. It's pretty complex and there's a whole lot of factors, both on the demand and supply side.

Look, we feel confident in ANZ in the first half. The second half, we've said in the outlook it's still a bit early for us to be overconfident there.

Hopefully that answers the question, Peter.

Great. Thanks, Peter.

Then, if I may, very quickly, just on the US, your store expansion has been pretty solid and, frankly, probably surprised generally on the upside over the last number of years. What you've spoken about now from a pace point of view is probably broadly how you've wanted us to think about it over an extended period of time.

Keen to get your view just around the strategic aspects of this. Are you sort of slowing down your intentions because you're getting to a place where you're happier with the network or are you trying to just consolidate the rollout that you have done thus far or have you got some other constraints organizationally that are bringing you back to that 15 to 20 number?

Peter, well, cuz you've followed us from the start, I think we at the start, whilst we were getting our feet under the ground, we were saying 10 to 15, actually, as a rate that we thought we could do sustainably. Look, we've done more than that the last two years, and that's a function of sometimes elements of where you are in the property buildout and you're waiting for permits and fire regs and all that sort of stuff.

No, I think if anything, we're far from where we want to be in the US. We're far from the finished product.

In some ways, probably the 15 to 20 is a slight increase to the rollout. We're still a fairly minor player in the US, and we're only eight years into what we said was a multi-decade story and was going to take a long time, and we were in it for the very long time.

Perfect. Thanks, Peter.

I'll leave it there. Appreciate it.

Thanks, Peter. See ya.

Bye.

Good morning, gents. Thanks for taking my question.

Simple one from me just on the capex outlook. Andrew, I think you mentioned, obviously Reece takes a through-the-cycle approach to looking at return on capital employed, and then you talked about returns potentially increasing as capex moderates into the future.

I would have thought if there's growth opportunity in the US, that capex spend should remain reasonably consistent and, on a historical context, quite elevated for a while. FY26 numbers came in lower than expectations.

I think it was called out that timing was part of the driver of that. In the context of the medium term, let's say, should we be expecting capex to return to that 2% to 3% of sales profile?

Given the lower outcome in FY26, should we expect the catchup in FY27? Thank you.

Thanks, Keith. I'll get Andy to answer that.

Thanks, Peter. Hi, Keith.

Look, I think you've probably just highlighted it. Most of that reduction this year was really the timing of capex.

If you looked last year, we were high in the range of about 2.9% last year. That reflects the fact that we opened more of the branches in the first half of this year in the US.

I'd expect that to normalize a little bit this year, but, yes, I think it's not a target, but that 2% to 3% range is typically where we've been spending historically. I think there's enough breadth in that range for us to think about that being the right level going forward.

Thank you. Peter, just as an adjunct to that, on the M&A side of things, are there any opportunities in the US that the company is exploring at the moment?

I know that's been a key part of the strategy, but is the intention to roll out stores organically or are there parts of the plumbing distribution and HVAC distribution arena that you're looking at at this point? Thank you.

Thanks, Keith. Yes, I think we've, yeah, said from very early stages, and it's in our capital management framework, it is both an organic and M&A play.

We are planning to roll out new stores organically, and it's been a constant looking at M&A opportunities. Yes, definitely, it's part of the strategy now going forward.

The only other build would be you're seeing the US, there is a lot of activity happening in the US, and valuations are high and stretched. The multiples are very high, so, you have to be which we are, very disciplined.

We're fortunate that if it looks like it doesn't stack up that way, you just pivot to having more in the organic space. It's a dual strategy there, Keith, and will be for a long time.

Okay. Thank you.

If I can, just one more follow-up on competitive dynamics in Australia and the US. I know this has been talked about infinitum for a while given the changes in the US, and also for Australia.

Peter, any change? I don't suspect the commentary from your side is going to change too much given industries don't move that fast, but if you can give us an update on the competitive dynamics for both Australia and the US, that would be useful.

Thank you.

Thanks, Keith. I thought you said you only had one question, but anyway, we're up to three, it's good.

No, look,

if I start with Australia, yeah, Australia has always been a incredibly competitive market. When we started, there was a lot of players.

Obviously, we've done very well, so, there's still a lot of the market that are made up of independent buying groups. Obviously you've got your big competitors that we respect enormously, the Bunnings.

Obviously we've got the new owners of Tradelink. I think I mentioned on the last call, we know them exceptionally well and couldn't respect them more.

The owner actually was a mentor for quite a period of time. That's all still a play in Australia.

The US, no, nothing has changed. It's definitely the biggest market in the world and it's the market you want to be in, but it is very competitive.

You've got extremely big competitors that are well-resourced with a lot of history. All the things that we've shared with you and everybody over the last eight years.

Obviously we've been going to the US for 25, studying it deeply. We've certainly got a clear handle on how it is day-to-day, but, no, nothing has changed from what I shared at the last.

Both markets very competitive, as you can see in our results.

Thanks, Peter. Thanks, gents.

Appreciate you answering all of my questions.

Thanks, Keith. See you soon.

Thank you. Good morning, Peter, Sasha, Andy.

Peter, just on ANZ, the second half sales are up 13% year on year. I think in your pres-o, you talk about inflation of 2% for the full year, which is probably a little bit less than I would have expected.

Maybe what can you tell us about what volumes actually were in the second half? Then is that a sensible kind of starting point as we go into first half '27, or is there anything else going on that we should be thinking about?

Oh, no, there's not. Oh, look, I think you're probably surprised given where you got with the oil shock with the Iran war and then obviously the whole PVC piece.

That brought demand forward and it's flowed through. The rest of the market is in a space that is pretty competitive.

There's always elements where you've got supply costs increasing, and there's obviously supply costs decreasing. You're passing costs through where they are there, and then obviously where there are savings, you're passing those through.

Yes, that's where we landed with the 2% inflation. I think we've got good momentum now and in the ANZ business.

I think it's a function of us executing well and all of the segments that are now performing pretty well. Barring any external shocks, which you just never know, that's why we're confident in the first half with the momentum continuing.

We'll clearly give an update at the AGM, which is three months away, and then we'll just keep the market updated as we go. It's too hard to go out any further than that.

The ANZ has got a history of being an amazing model. It's got a great culture, great model, and I think the team is in a pretty good spot.

Okay. Thank you.

Then just on the US, is there any more color around what, in your mind, modest growth means? I get it's clearly a tricky backdrop and you're more focused on the medium longer-term than necessarily month-on-month.

What do you think we should be taking away from the commentary modest? Then just confirm that would be based on your assumed store rollout numbers.

If the store rollouts greater or less than that or there's M&A or something, then that modest piece is obviously going to change.

Yes, Lee. Look, it's hard.

Us how conservative we are. Unless things are really awkward, we don't normally give guidance unless it's really uncertain.

Modest is definitely modest. Look, we've got a big exposure to the housing market in the US.

It actually is exceptionally soft. COVID was very good for the housing market, but it is definitely stuck, frozen, whatever you like.

There's a post-COVID hangover, and you can see over half of the mortgages still they're under 4%. If you get a new mortgage now, you're close to 7%.

That the whole affordability piece in the US, something has to change for that to move. Modest, it will be modest.

Without giving guidance, we're not expecting that much growth in the US this year.

Okay. Thank you.

Appreciate the color, but it's obviously a pretty weird backdrop, appreciate you doing your best to help us out as well. Thank you.

Yeah. Thanks, Lee.

Morning, team. Thanks for taking my questions.

Just the first one, how should we be thinking about discretionary investment in Australia in fiscal '27, and I guess the implications for margin in the year?

Do you want to Andy, you want to take this? I think, again, we don't we we, in terms of, we're not we we're not in the in the We don't give guidance, but, Andy, you can you can handle this question.

I'll give a bit of color on the cost, Niraj, and answer your question that way. I think if you look at the total cost for the group, we've said in the ASX release, we're up about 9.6%.

That excludes D&A. The biggest driver of that, 2/3 of that is actually the network expansion impact in the US.

That obviously impacts the US more than the ANZ business, but that's what's driving group results. Above that, we've got inflation sitting about 3%.

Then you've got some investment over and above that that's offset by some FX. Look, Niraj, we continue to look at that.

The investment impact is larger in ANZ. Network impact is larger in US.

We'll continue to look at what the right level of investment is. We've got levers there, as we've said before, and we'll just continue to assess what's necessary to really support our strategic initiatives.

Got it. Thank you.

Then the second one just following up on Lee's question, it sounds like based on your answer that there wasn't any discernible, I guess, pull-forward impact on demand from rising input costs and higher prices.

In which market are you talking?

Oh, either one. I was more talking Australia, though.

Cuz you haven't heard from Sash, you can answer this one, Sash.

Thanks, Pete. Thanks, Niraj.

Look, whenever you have the challenges in the supply chain, the market does respond, and the market has responded. That's why it's a challenging time now.

All we can say is that our pipeline, we've got a good line of sight for the first half, but beyond that, it'll be too challenging to predict.

Great. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks. Good morning and thanks for taking my question.

Just back on ANZ and sorry just get to stick into this again, but the second half volume performance, really strong there, giving you these good pipelines for the first half. To Niraj's point, sounds like a lot of pull-forward.

Look, it sounds like perhaps you've done better than the market in the second half '26 on volumes in ANZ. If you think that's true or not, and if so, any reasons why that would be the case?

I guess some of the feedback we've got is one of your big competitors here is kind of being a bit more rational and kind of deemphasizing some of the lower margin segments. Any kind of color around what's driving that in group's second half volume would be great.

Thanks.

Hi, Brook. Look, we tried in the call to explain.

You've been studying us for a fair while. We've got a really strong model, and I think the team, we're executing to our strategy really well.

We've got really good alignment. We had a few challenges over the last few years in terms of unpacking a whole lot of things, but I feel like the team is in a good spot.

I think our business is an exceptional business in Australia. We've delivered well in the second half, and that's sort of what you'd expect when momentum starts to shift.

The momentum was starting, and then obviously you've got interest rate rises, and then obviously you've got government policy changes. That's the only caveat to it.

Like we've always done in the past, you've just got to adapt, and whatever is thrown up at you, you adapt. I think the Australian business is an exceptional business.

That's great. Thanks.

July then, I guess you talked about modest growth in the US. Can you just confirm, are you talking kind of like-for-like, sort of same-store sales modest growth, or are you talking about kind of modest growth on a fully loaded basis in terms of the benefits coming through from the store rollout, and yeah, just which of those it is, like-for-like or sort of all-in?

Thanks, Brook. Look, again, it's the guidance part.

I think the comment would be all-in there, cuz we are cautious about what we're dealing with in the US. In three months at the AGM, we will obviously give an update and then obviously at the half.

Definitely at this point, all-in. We are, which I think is the right thing to do.

We are cautious, but, yeah, still all-in for that multi-decade story. We're far from the finished product in the US.

That's great. Just a quick one.

You mentioned data centers as one clear bright spot across a pretty mixed backdrop. As we all know, can you just talk about how relevant that space is going to be for your business over the next couple of years across both regions and what are you doing there to make sure your teams catch on to that opportunity?

Thanks.

Thanks, Brook. Definitely.

Look, it's it's it's, it definitely is relevant very relevant to both regions. The there's a There's a there is a lot of plumbing, HVAC, waterworks product that goes into them.

If we're if we're doing well, we're we're going to get exposed into that buildout in both in all regions. So, yeah, I think that's that's the, yeah, we're we're definitely very, that's the The model's good.

We're very fortunate to have exposure to the actual buildout.

All right. Thank you.

Thanks, Brook.

Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions.

Firstly, just to follow on these pull-forward questions earlier, I just look at that acceleration in the second half in ANZ to 13% from 4% in the first half, pretty impressive. Just wondering, given we've heard from some market participants about a pull-forward of demand ahead of the price rises in the second half of the year, and then it's subsequently sort of hit volumes at the start of first half '27.

Just wondering if you're seeing that trend at all, or anything you'd like to call out there?

Good day, Harry. Look, when you have those shocks, there was definitely pull-forward in some of those categories like PVC, but it has worked its way through.

It's only one element of the whole picture. We are a very diversified business now in Australia, not so much in the US.

Look, we were starting to see momentum then, and we've called it out. I think we're seeing the momentum that we exited Australia is continuing for the first half at this point.

The only caveat is if we have another shock, which is highly likely these days. I think we're all used to that.

I think what we said in the call is probably as much as we're going to say, but we see the Reece momentum continuing at least for the first half.

Understood. Thanks.

It doesn't sound like you're trying to temper that 13% sort of run rate in the second half, I take it?

I'm not giving any, Look, just I think I think I've shared enough. We're definitely not going to get into, I'm not It's, it's good, Harry, good question.

The, No, no, we've got There's a solid There's a solid pipeline, but beyond that, it it's too risky to say.

Understood. Thanks.

Appreciate the color. Then just on those US other comments on modest growth, just wondering if that refers to sales or EBIT, or both, just given consensus has got sort of close to 10% sales growth and close to 20% EBIT growth, presumably this is sales, but just wanted to confirm.

Yep. No.

Definitely. In terms of the growth, that's the first part, get the sale, and then you work the other parts after that.

Yep, definitely, we are referring to the sales growth.

Got it. Thanks.

Then just a follow-on on the slow-moving and obsolete inventory that fell about $30 million in the second half, can you just sort of talk through what drove that, please?

I'm going to give that to other duo, Andy.

Thanks, Peter. Hey, Harry.

Look, a couple of things are sort of driving that. Firstly, some improved sell-through rates across both the regions.

As we've seen some volume improvement, we've been able to revise the provisioning levels there. We have to take provision when we see that come off, so that's improved a little bit as we've seen a better second half, in particular.

Then in the US, given the level of investment we've done, we're now up to 120 branches since '19, you would have seen in the presentation, that's allowed us to just reassess the level of provisioning we're holding across the US business as well. There's a little bit of a benefit from that as well that's reflected in that provision adjustment.

Really helpful. Thank you.

Just a quick follow-on as well, the impact in ANZ margin from the brand amortization, should we expect a sort of similar ongoing impact in '27?

Harry. I'll pick that one up.

That'll be amortized across effectively the two years. So '26 has got half of that.

There'll be another $10 million impact in FY27.

Perfect. Thank you.

Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my question.

Andy, you provided a helpful kind of cost bridge for the group. I was just wondering if you could do the same for ANZ specifically, cuz it looks like there maybe below the line, you've seen quite a lot of cost increase in there.

Obviously, the brand amortization is part of that, but even without that, it looks to be kind of a lot of cost increase. Can you help us just flesh out some of the color on that, please?

Hi, Daniel. Look, we don't break down the detail cost base by region, as but look, to give you a bit of color back to the comments I made earlier.

The ANZ business has seen a little bit more of that discretionary investment, things like our employee proposition, our digital and AI initiatives. They're probably a bit more impactful on the ANZ cost base, whereas the network expansion impact is more impactful in the US base.

That gives you a bit of color, I guess, of the drivers at a regional level.

Great. Then just on the sales level, obviously, strong numbers for that second half.

I was just wondering if there's anything you can say around whether the kind of temporary price increases that you've seen, how impactful they are, and whether you've seen them starting to roll off, or you expect them to roll off through the next year?

We've shown you where the inflation is for the year in ANZ and the US, probably isn't as great as whatever everyone was thinking and obviously what the press and the media were reporting. Having said that, there's definitely supply cost increases in the last part of the year.

There were some increased parts. You would say that we exited with a slightly higher inflation rate than the year.

That's in Australia. The US definitely doesn't have that dynamic at this point, hopefully that helps a bit.

Great. Yeah.

Then just one more, if I may. Just in terms of the new guidance around the store rollout in the US, if you just help us, is there any change in kind of the strategy, the outlook in the US in terms of what opportunities you see?

Just whether that kind of store growth is now linked to specific segment within the US, say HVAC, or even more national exposure in the US and focusing on slightly different markets than existing?

No, the strategy is really intact and in line, and I think that network growth is really across all of the business units, but really with a focus on the Sunbelt. The strategy's intact.

We've always been fairly conservative, and everyone knows that I was quite -- I don't know what the word is. I shared a fair bit this time last year, but what we've shown is definitely the strategy's intact, and this is a multi-decade play, and I think that a slight increase to our store sort of ambition, I think, demonstrates that.

Great. Thanks, guys.

Thank you.

Good morning, Peter and team. Just a couple of quick ones from me.

Maybe if you could give us a bit of a guide on the finance costs this year, just I know you've given the net interest cost number or guide that's helpful. Given the increasing rate of stores that you're rolling out, just any sort of guide on what lease costs we should expect in that financing line?

Look, I'll pick that one up. Look, I think you can sort of look at the second half run rate, and you can see most of that network expansion impact has sort of been built in there.

I think to the extent you're looking at what might move into '27, that's probably the better data point to use from a lease cost perspective.

Great. Peter, one for you, just on the US, I guess, margins are still sort of very tepid over there, and I understand there's a degree of rollout impacting that, but just any sort of comments on the sequential margin declines in the US, how to think about that into '27 as some of the stores that you've been rolling out over the last couple of years start to mature?

Good, Ramoun. I might actually even get Sash, do you want to take this?

Sure.

Yeah. He's just come back from the US, Sasha Nikolic:

Look, there are a number of factors there. I think the market plays an impact there, and reminding everybody that the residential new construction exposure is large in our US business.

The point that I think you're making, and I think Andy made it in his, is as our new rollouts start to mature, and they do take time, we would expect to see the margin profile change in the US.

Should we expect that to start in '27 just because the new store rollouts are slowing? I would say,

when you say we've shared actually more than we normally do. We're expecting modest growth, I think it's not that much different to what we're doing.

For what we have done in the past, and if we look at how long it takes for these new stores, they do vary depending on the type of store. We've got small, medium, and large formats across the different segments, and they vary from 2 to 5 years before they actually reach a break-even point.

The ones that are more skewed towards the smaller R&R customer, you win them one customer at a time, and they take longer. I think we've signaled modest growth for the US, and I think that's the right thing to say.

Okay. All right, great.

Thanks. I'll leave it there.

Thank you.

Good morning, Peter and team. Thanks for taking my question.

Just a quick one on the result, it basically came in at the midpoint of your guidance, which I guess was given pre-war and pre budget. You've done pretty well to bring that into the range.

I just wondering, were there any levers you had to pull to do that, or really at a high level, did you not see that much impact from, I guess, all the noise in the fourth quarter versus when you gave that guide?

Good day, Sam. Because there was some noise, that's why we decided to give guidance.

Obviously when those events happen, you do start thinking, "Oh, are we going to have to update it again?" I think you've almost answered the question.

I think maybe we didn't see as bigger impact as what it initially was looking like. There was definitely some pull-forward of some categories, but I think in all regions, it sort of washed through reasonably smoothly.

That's probably why we landed within guidance.

Got it. That's helpful.

Then maybe on the second half, I think you've answered a few questions on it today, but just wanted to perhaps understand whether you think there was any contribution perhaps from a change in strategy from your main competitor in ANZ. Feels like they're shifting a bit in the markets they're targeting.

Just, yeah, want to understand if you thought there was a bit of a contribution there to your number, and particularly now, I guess, with your focus on what appears next-generation showrooms, but yeah, any color there would be helpful.

I would say it's all too early. I think cultural change and any change and getting foundations right, it's a multi-year story what they'll be undertaking.

No, don't think there's any impact, while it might be slightly. In terms of the new format, that's just one showroom that's only been trading for a couple of months, definitely there's nothing there.

No, I think ultimately, I think I've mentioned it. It's always been a fierce contest, and all I keep saying is I couldn't respect the new owners more.

Like every market, we have to be totally on our game. We've got to be totally in continuing to get better every single day.

We've got to keep investing. We got to make sure we stay at the forefront.

Otherwise, what they do will actually have an impact in 3 to 5 years when everyone's forgotten about it. What they're doing now will be getting their business into a better position down the track.

Thanks, Peter. Appreciate the color.

Thank you.

Good morning, Peter and team. Thanks for taking my questions.

Just the first question I had just around data centers, can you give us an update on how you're seeing the opportunity for data centers in both the US and Australia? Then can you also make a comment on how material that end market is to the broader group?

I think we Good day. I think we did just mention that.

It's definitely We are We are definitely benefiting at, that that end market. We're we're, we're exposed in our plumbing, HVAC, and waterworks businesses across, all our segments.

I think, I think it is going to be it's a It is a net It's a It's a positive. My analogy of this, it's a little bit like I don't know if everyone remembers, but when we had the and it might not go this way, but when we had the mining boom in Australia, we we we benefited to that while the mining boom went on.

All these big infrastructure plays, companies like Reece, do benefit because you, we've got to supply the product of all the trades that are doing the work for the hyperscalers. So, definitely exposed, so, it's it's a will be a positive, for the business.

Great. Then just the other question I had just around the waterworks business in the US, it sounds like things have stabilized there.

Is it still in a sort of rebuild phase, or are you sort of returning to growth for that business now that things have stabilized?

Thanks. Good question.

Definitely, I think that's the right word to say, stabilized. I think obviously this time last year, I did describe it as the perfect storm because we were in the middle of it and we didn't have a leader, we've appointed a leader to the business from within, which has stabilized.

We have rebuilt the team and continuing to rebuild and invest in that segment. It is definitely a hot space.

It's very contested. Look, I think we've done a pretty good job in the last 12 months to stabilize and, if you like, fight back.

I think I said this at the half and at the AGM, it made us think deeper, but our shareholders, we are 100% in this for the long term. I did make the comment, it'll be interesting to see who outlasts who in this space.

I would say that, yeah, I think definitely stabilization is the right word, and we're feeling a lot better about where we are, albeit it's still unbelievably competitive, and particularly in a couple of markets. If you keep taking a long-term view, and you think really long term, you can outlast anyone.

Great. I'll leave it there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks, everyone, for joining us again today.

We do appreciate your time. We look forward to speaking with you again at our next update.

Thank you very much.