hello LM O'Connor, page-13

This confused me as well but I gather the difference is because of the deferred consideration write backs, If an acquisition (or multiple ones) is not performing, this will lead to the 20% drop in EBIT, but will also lead to the write back ( as earn out target is not met), thus leaving NPAT the same or slightly higher. It is always a concern when acquisitions don't perform and leave question marks as to whether it should have been bought in the first place. On the other hand sometimes time is needed to bed things down and gain synergies. Next year will probably be an interesting year to see which is true.