I look forward to sharing some of these details with you this morning.

Transcription

1 Good morning everyone. I am delighted to be here today as Chief Executive Officer of SunRice. Twelve months ago I stood here and spoke about our company s investment for growth. It is pleasing to report today that SunRice has in 2013/14, successfully continued our overall growth trajectory to move well beyond drought recovery and into an exciting period of expansion and opportunity. Over the past year we have built on our strengths to now be on a very solid footing and well positioned to take advantage of accelerated growth opportunities over the next three years as identified in our strategic review. I look forward to sharing some of these details with you this morning. But first, I d like to outline the topics I will cover in my presentation today. 1

2 I intend to cover a number of key areas: Firstly, Group performance for the 2013/14 year or Crop Year 13, including providing an overview of the year s business and financial highlights. Next, our financial performance in detail, including Group profit and the paddy price; as well as detailing the performance of our key subsidiary and complementary businesses. Then I will provide an update on key strategic initiatives, including our Group Strategy and the Capital Structure Review. And I will finish by providing a business outlook for SunRice. 2

3 Firstly then to Group performance. 3

4 From the financial highlights you will see shortly, it may appear that on the surface SunRice had a flat year in 2013/14. It was in fact a year in which we faced, and successfully managed, a number of incredibly challenging issues across the Group. These included: Adverse movements in foreign exchange which significantly impacted our profit businesses, Trukai and Riviana; and Challenges with the C13 crop, with some of the lowest milling yields on record. These issues negatively impacted our financial performance for the year, both in relation to profit and the paddy price. Despite these challenges, we grew sales of branded, value-added products across domestic and international markets, through our focus on product innovation, market insights and meeting consumer trends. Importantly, this delivered additional opportunities for growers to benefit from supply to overseas premium markets. 4

5 We continued our program of substantial capital reinvestment to position the business for future growth; and to drive productivity and efficiency gains and reduce costs. The past year also saw us finalise and implement our new Group strategy; and as our Chairman mentioned, we also progressed the Capital Structure Review, which I will talk to in more detail shortly. 4

6 Our full year financial performance was pleasing overall, particularly given the challenges I just outlined. Consolidated revenue for the Group of $1.151 billion was up 7.7% on the same period last year, marking the fourth straight year of revenue growth; Group net profit after tax of $33.5 million, which while being down 6.4% on last year, was still in line with the new level of profitability achieved post drought. We delivered a fully franked dividend of 23.0 cents per B Class Share, equalling the record amount for the company set last year; A final Crop Year 13 paddy price of $ per tonne for medium grain (Reiziq); and Return on funds employed of 14.1%, up 0.5% on last year and the fifth consecutive year of improvement. 5

7 In breaking down the 2013/14 performance of SunRice further, I d like to look firstly at the revenue results for the Group as a whole. It is worth noting that all areas of the business generated an increase in revenue for the year. You can see the largest revenue contribution came from our Australian Rice Milling and Marketing business, or our Australian pool business, which I d like to focus on in some detail here. Our Pool business continued to perform strongly to provide solid returns to growers, delivering $357 million in revenue, an increase of 6% on last year s figure. This was largely driven by revenue and volume growth in value added, branded products across our international consumer businesses. Some of the highlights included: Increased sales in the Middle East; We achieved further growth in Asia despite a highly price competitive market; and We continued to record value and volume growth in the Pacific in spite of ongoing competition from the U.S. and Vietnam. Looking further at the performance of our Australian pool business in 6

8 overseas markets, and while we focused our resources on sales of branded, value-added product, our International Commodities business also performed strongly, managing to achieve growth in revenue from lower volumes. Turning to the domestic market here in Australia and New Zealand, and in 2013/14 we continued to grow our market share and attracted new customers. This was underpinned by our ongoing focus on product innovation, increased speed to market and significant brand investment. You can see from the chart, that the performance of our Australian pool business was closely followed by our global business, which achieved an increase in revenue of 9% to $349 million. Our global business of course features our major Pacific markets, including Trukai and SolRice, as well as our global rice trading activities. A highlight here was the continued sales volume growth in our Trukai business, with our aggressive distribution strategy helping to achieve a 9% increase in rice volumes and 17% growth in stockfeed volumes. Meanwhile, Riviana generated $155 million in revenue and CopRice $125 million; while a further $165 million was generated by other businesses and interests, including Australian Grain Storage, our specialty rice foods business and SunFoods. I d like to now outline the Group profit performance for 2013/14, and talk a little more about our profit businesses, including Trukai, Riviana, CopRice and SunFoods. 6

9 In terms of Net Profit Before Tax, this chart shows how each of the areas of our business contributed to SunRice s full year profit result. Our global businesses were again the main contributors, generating $32 million of profit. Looking at Trukai in further detail, while the business achieved strong results in terms of volume growth, profits were flat year-on-year due to the weakening Kina exchange rate, which negatively impacted the business by circa $16 million. Helping to negate this impact were initiatives implemented to maintain competitive pricing and to balance the equation between volume and price. We expect these intiatives will continue to provide a positive impact in 2014/15. CopRice maintained it s impressive volume growth trend to generate a profit of $9 million in 2013/14. This was underpinned by a 7% increase in specialty sales volumes in Australia and 20% in New Zealand, along with improvements in bulk sales, including to the sheep and pig segments. Importantly, the business also invested $8.5 million to upgrade the Leeton feed mill and extrusion plant, to increase output and also support further business growth. 7

10 You can see from the chart that Riviana s profit fell significantly from $10 million in 2012/13 to $1 million in 2013/14. This was due to the significant impact of challenging trading conditions, most notably adverse foreign exchange movements that resulted in a significant increase in import costs. With more than 75% of our product range sourced in U.S. or European currency, the decline in the Australian Dollar has been the most significant hurdle faced by Riviana this past year. Other challenges have included rising operating costs and a competitive retail landscape. Despite these challenges, Riviana continued to build for future growth with a number of key initiatives implemented, including: Identifying opportunities to recover margins through product reengineering and relaunching; Working closely with our Retail and Foodservice customers to address currency related cost pressures; and Initiating a program to drive greater efficiencies across the business. This required some difficult decisions to lower product, warehouse and distribution costs, which included the closure of our Kelletts Road manufacturing site and the need to put in place alternative sourcing arrangements for some products. Pleasingly, the business continued to drive top line performance in 2013/14 despite financial pressures, achieving: Double digit growth in our Foodservice business; and Record market share in the core Pickled Vegetable category in the Retail segment. A concentrated Australian retail market delayed the effects of pricing improvements initiated in 2013/14 and consequently, we expect to see greater benefits of these this year. Looking again to the chart, and a further $12 million of profit was generated by our remaining businesses, including our specialty rice foods business and SunFoods. This was an increase of $6 million on the previous year. In 2013/14, SunFoods continued its journey to establish an independent position in the U.S. market following a period of supporting the Group during 7

11 the Australian drought. The past year, however, saw SunFoods incur a further substantial loss of $5.4 million, which was compounded by difficult trading conditions in U.S. tender markets. Pleasingly though, a number of long term growth initiatives started to deliver positive results. These included: Relaunching the Hinode range with a new look and major packaging redesign, which helped it deliver year-on-year volume growth in both Hawaii and the U.S. Mainland markets through strong performance in our Distributor business, as well as the Retail and Foodservice channels; And we successfully launched Australian-grown medium, short and Jasmine rices into these channels in order to extend SunFoods value proposition with customers. Looking ahead, we believe SunFoods is positioned to substantially improve its year-on-year performance in 2014/15, helped by the emergence of the Californian drought in late The past year was a significant one for AGS, which operated at a capacity of 1.3 million tonnes in managing the large 1.1 million tonne C13 crop and carryover. This included dealing with: A very high receival rate, which peaked at over 41,000 tonnes in a single day; Close to 1 month of uninterrupted receivals; And after receival and drying we had to transfer paddy to external dry storages whilst also receiving the new crop. This resulted in some delays in receival rates. The business also managed receival of more than 825,000 tonnes of paddy as part of the C14 harvest, which extended into C15 as a result of rain interruptions. On a number of occasions recently, I ve been asked what we re doing to invest in our receival infrastructure. We understand this is a critical part of our business and I can report that in 2013/14, AGS continued to make improvements at each of its sites; investing in plant, equipment and staff training and development. In fact, since C11, more than $26 million has been invested in capital and maintenance in AGS, including $7.8 million in 2013/14 and a further $8.8 million planned this year, to ensure we provide our growers with reliable and efficient infrastructure. 7

12 And after discussion at recent RGA meetings, we commenced a study to assess AGS intake rates and what additional levels of grower service can be viably achieved to meet the requirements of growers. Please note there is no figure against the Australian Rice Milling and Marketing business on this chart as all profits were paid out to growers in the paddy price. 7

13 This chart shows the trend for our Net Profit Before Tax over the last four years and highlights a number of key factors influencing the profit movements from 2012/13 to 2013/14. You can see the positive growth trend achieved in the period post drought, which peaked at a new level in 2012/13 and which despite the negative impact of foreign exchange, we were largely able to maintain in 2013/14, primarily through productivity and efficiency gains, price and volume. 8

14 Turning now to the paddy price. Despite achieving strong volumes and good sales in C13, the related paddy returns were impacted by unusually low milling yields. To give you an idea, this included 400,000 tonnes of paddy with a yield of less than 45%, and of this, 175,000 tonnes achieved a yield below 35%. This resulted in the business having to absorb significant additional milling costs. Adding additional pressure to the paddy price was the global rice price, which remained low for most of the year. The second half recovery in global prices enabled us to deliver a further uplift in the final payment, taking the C13 full year paddy price to $ p/t for medium grain (Reiziq). Our pool business was also helped by the lower Australian dollar in 2013/14, which assisted in cushioning the significant cost burden in managing the challenges with the C13 crop. 9

15 If we look at the year-on-year paddy result, the key aspects I d like to point out include firstly, the $9 per tonne benefit that arose from favourable product and market mix, and foreign exchange movements. Secondly, you can see just how much of an effect the C13 crop challenges had on the paddy price, with low milling yields and high brokens resulting in a negative impact of approximately $30 per tonne. Clearly, had the quality of the C13 crop been in line with normal standards, we would have been in a position to more than match the C12 paddy price of $317 per tonne for Medium Grain (Reiziq). 10

16 Before reviewing the performance of our Group subsidiary and complementary businesses, I d like to look at our year-on-year net debt position. As you can see from the chart, in 2013/14 our year-end net debt position - this being total borrowings less cash and cash equivalents - fell from $193 million to $141 million, an improvement of more than $50 million. This drop was in part due to the late C14 harvest and strong operating cash flows. Our net debt position reflects a healthy overall standing for the Group, underpinned by continued positive financial performance. This is further evidenced when you take into account the considerable capital investment undertaken by the Group over the past year to position us for future growth, which I ll now address in further detail. 11

17 To add to our Chairman s earlier comments regarding investment in our Australian operations; in 2013/14, we continued our substantial capital re-investment program aimed at delivering productivity and efficiency improvements and reducing costs. Expenditure totalling $32 million was invested over the past year. As you can see, investments were made right across our Australian operations, including SunRice, CopRice and AGS. The projects listed and other similar investments, not only delivered immediate efficiency gains, but will ensure the Group benefits from a greater ability to process and add value to our Australian crop. Importantly, they also provide valuable new opportunities for employment and wealth creation in the Riverina region. The past year also saw the business make good progress on lead safety indicators, a result of which we can be extremely proud. However, we aren t resting on our laurels and we remain firmly committed to working even harder this year towards achieving our Zero Harm vision. Our commitment to quality, as well safety, was also reflected by our results in various audits throughout the year, including those involving our customers and consumers. 12

18 I d like to now provide an update on key business initiatives, including our Group Strategy and the Capital Structure Review. 13

19 This past year has seen us make good progress on our new Group strategy, which is now well into the execution stage. You may have noticed the inside front cover of our 2014 Annual Report outlined the key components of our Strategy, which calls for: An increase in annual revenue from $1.2 billion to $2 billion; A return on Funds Employed of greater than 15%; and Returns to growers that are attracting all available resources to meet market demand. These are achievable goals with opportunities to build greater presence in high growth consumer markets and in premiumisation across commodity markets; and to also expand our profit businesses. Critical to achieving our goals and taking advantage of these opportunities - is access to capital. Capital will play a vital role in helping us to grow. For example, in the past we have had the opportunity to buy businesses in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to 14

20 improve our position in these markets, but we did not have the balance sheet to participate when the opportunities were presented. 14

21 I d like to now turn to the Capital Structure Review, and to elaborate on what our Chairman outlined earlier. 15

22 The Review was initiated to identify if there is an alternate capital structure to better suit SunRice s future needs. It is therefore a fundamental initiative to addressing our unique issues and the requirements of shareholders, including preserving the current structure of our industry and maintaining grower control on an ongoing basis. In addition, the Review aims to enhance the liquidity and value of B Class shares and to allow B shareholders to realise the value of their investment in SunRice when they choose, including as security. And to find a model that allows us to access a deeper pool of capital to minimise business risk and ensure SunRice is positioned for growth to the benefit of all shareholders. It s this last point that I d like to focus on in further detail now. 16

23 If SunRice is to build on its success in international markets and cement its position as a truly global player, we need to have access to capital for growth. Benefits will flow in the form of: Increased ability to invest to establish new premium markets; Better returns for both growers and shareholders; and Lower business risk due to a stronger balance sheet. 17

24 Consider then how the business could fund an acquisition such as another Trukai, which contributes to both the pool and shareholders returns. A business of scale would require an investment of around $150 million. To fund this using debt would return gearing to unacceptable levels; while equity funding from existing shareholders would require roughly a doubling of each shareholders investment. Neither are particularly viable. Even if we did find such funding under our current structure, we would expose the business to increased financial risk and it would take many years to pay off. And remember, this is just one acquisition. Obtaining access to new sources of equity capital brings with it a number of benefits, which include: Equity investors take a longer term view than debt investors; and They recognise business cycles when investing, which better suits an 18

25 agribusiness that may be exposed to a higher level of cyclical volatility. As I mentioned earlier, gaining access to capital to fund our future growth is one of the fundamental objectives of the Capital Structure Review. It is one of the reasons why we have invested the time and resources we have to ensure we get it right. 18

26 We know that our deliberations have been lengthy, but as the Chairman mentioned earlier, we have recently made progress in our discussions with regulators. We will continue to engage with them. Any proposition that emerges will be assessed against the objectives of the Capital Structure and the requirements of shareholders, whilst also being compared to our current structure. Given our complexity and unique requirements, it is important we get this right and that we ensure we have undertaken as thorough and comprehensive a process as necessary. 19

27 Now to the outlook for SunRice Group. 20

28 As we emerged from drought three years ago the business faced many challenges, including high debt; a need to invest in key infrastructure; and to recover overseas market share. Three years on and we have: Grown revenue by more than 40%; Established a consistent level of profit performance above $30 million Net Profit After Tax; Reduced debt to the lowest level since 2007 and halved our gearing ratio; Re-established branded consumer volumes equivalent to more than 700,000 paddy tonnes; Invested over $54 million in capital improvements; and Improved returns on funds employed for three years running. As a result we are well positioned to deliver the growth identified in our strategic plan. 21

29 If we focus on the outlook for 2013/14 or C14, and firstly to the paddy price. The current dynamics impacting paddy price appear favourable and lead us to a positive outlook, with the forecast foreign exchange rate and international pricing continuing to work in our favour. Additionally, when combined with the strong start to C14, the anticipated paddy return is now at least $340 per tonne for Medium Grain (Reiziq), with higher pricing for specialty varieties, including $470 per tonne for Koshihikari. Turning to the outlook for Group profit in 2014/15. We expect improved profit performance across the Group this year, resulting in a 10% lift in Net Profit After Tax year-on-year, subject of course to local and global market conditions. Further guidance on financial performance will be provided at the Half Year in December. 22

30 In summary and before I take questions, I d like to leave you with the message that our business is in very good shape with a positive outlook for the year ahead. Thank you. 23

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