Full Year 2024 Clicks Group Ltd Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Clicks Group Ltd (CLCGY) reported a strong financial performance with diluted headline earnings per share up 14.3%, aligning with market expectations.
- The company expanded its store and pharmacy network, increasing Clicks store count to 936 and pharmacy count to 720, demonstrating growth in its retail footprint.
- Clicks Group Ltd (CLCGY) achieved market share gains across all core retail categories, leveraging its positioning as a value retailer.
- The company made significant investments in sustainability, increasing renewable energy generation from 3.4% to 4.5% of total consumption.
- Clicks Group Ltd (CLCGY) maintained a strong cash flow, generating ZAR6 billion in cash inflows and returning over ZAR2.5 billion to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.
- The pharmacy expansion was hindered by licensing issues, resulting in fewer new pharmacies than planned, although the issue has been resolved.
- Retail turnover growth slowed slightly in the second half due to the anniversary of prior year acquisitions and delayed pharmacy rollouts.
- The UPD division experienced muted growth for the year, despite a better performance in the second half.
- Inventory levels increased, with retail stock days rising by one day and UPD stock days increasing due to high levels of unicorn stock.
- The company faced cost pressures from load shedding and higher electricity costs, although these were partially mitigated by investments in solar energy.
Good afternoon and a warm welcome to the webcast of our annual results for the year ended 31 August 2024. I am Bertina Engelbrecht, Chief Executive Officer of the Clicks Group. I am joined by Gordon Traill, our Chief Financial Officer.
We will be taking you through the presentation of our annual results and respond to your questions after the conclusion of our presentation, this slide sets out the outline we will follow. As usual, I will start with a review of our financial year. Gordon will follow with an overview of our financial results year after I will take you through the trading performances of our business units. First clicks the up, I will then close with the outlook for the group. Please submit any questions that you may have via the webcast platform during and after the conclusion of our presentation, sue him from our investor relations team will read out your questions to which Gordon and I will respond. I will now commence with the review of again.
As a business, we remain optimistic about
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