Positives:
- organic growth of 9.7% is good
- looks like Vlad is attempting to get Hills/DAS back on track with profit expected from 2Q
- 1Q is generally the slowest with 2Q (tax/EOFY sales) and 4Q generally stronger so lets hope that remains the case
- gross margins improved on 2H despite higher interest rates so perhaps it does seem like the underlying business profitability is improving
Negatives
- Pbt margin still only 3.4% which is an improvement on 2H22, but still a long way from ~4% achieved before Exeed purchase (NZ margins have always been lower than Australia, but the Exeed purchase seems to be the tail wagging the dog.....the preso for FY22 indicated a retail presence and I wonder if that is what is hurting the entire business)
The lower quarterly dividend I hope signals a conservative approach rather than some indication of a slowdown (backorders have come down from 3Q last year so perhaps that leaves some uncertainty to a strong year?).
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