ASX Announcement
22 October 2020
2020 AGM Addresses to Shareholders and Trading Update
Please find attached on behalf of HRL Holdings Limited (ASX: HRL) the Chairman's address and the CEO's address to be delivered today to the shareholders at the Company's Annual General Meeting to be held at 11:00 am (Brisbane time) at Level 7 Waterfront Place, 1 Eagle Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000.
This announcement has been approved by the Board
Paul Marshall
Company Secretary
HRL Holdings Ltd
www.hrlholdings.com | ABN 99 120 896 371 | ASX Code: HRL
Greg Kilmister
Chairman
HRL Holdings Limited
Annual General Meeting - 22 October 2020
This is my second year addressing you as Chairman of HRL. I wish to acknowledge the directors of the Company in the placement of their faith in me to chair this company into the next phase of its development, as HRL cements its place as a significant player in the Australian and New Zealand testing, inspection and certification markets.
I will take the formal accounts for the Company for the 2020 Financial Year as being read.
Now I will make some general comments about the 2020 financial year before handing over to our CEO, Steve Dabelstein, who will provide a more detailed overview.
We started the 2020 financial year with the momentum of the strong second half of the 2019 financial year:
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seeing a return to profitability of all business streams;
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the execution of our strategy to broaden our market penetration through new technologies;
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an engaged enthusiastic staff built around a positive culture;
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and importantly a motivated and capable management and executive team.
The first half of last year to December 2019 saw revenue up 15% to $16.3 million and underlying EBITDA up 265% to $2.6 million. The momentum going into the June 2020 half year was strong…and then COVID-19 hit in February.
To a large degree our future was taken out of our hands and I therefore want to address how your company reacted to COVID-19 and the uncertainty that it created.
Our priority was the safety of all our staff and a determination to protect as many jobs as possible whilst not putting the Company at risk. Staff at all levels rose to the occasion, with Steve Dabelstein ably leading by example. Staff embraced different working hours; disruption to start and finishing times, and days worked. Everybody pulled together as a team. The focus was on generating as much work as possible and ensuring our clients had a positive, supportive, professional interaction with HRL during these unprecedented times. Executives, whilst working longer hours during this time, accepted a 20% cut in remuneration in the final quarter, as did the non-executive directors of your Board. On behalf of all shareholders I acknowledge this sacrifice and recognize it as a deep commitment to the company and the journey we are on. I thank the executives and managers for "stepping up to the plate" during this time. I would also like to acknowledge the financial support given by the Australian and New Zealand governments in ensuring we navigated the significant initial changes in work volumes without damaging the long-term potential of the company and protecting staff. All these activities combined to see HRL deliver a very pleasing financial result for the full financial year ending June 2020 with revenue up 7% to $32.8 million and underlying EBITDA up 24% to $6.9 million.
www.hrlholdings.com | ABN 99 120 896 371 | ASX Code: HRL
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Now to the future. HRL has settled into the new norm of the economic environment in which we now operate. It is now time to get on with the job. We have reactivated our search for suitable acquisitions that bring real long-term value to the company. Just as importantly we are actively pursuing organic growth opportunities in new sectors, new geographies, and new services. We have the Balance Sheet to embrace all these short and mid-term opportunities, as well as a capable management team with the skills to execute on these strategies. I am confident in the year ahead. The new year has started well, and Steve will provide some colour around Financial Guidance for the first half as part of his address.
It is important that your Board has the right mix of skills and experience. To that end, I wish to welcome Richard Stephens to the HRL Board. His experience, capabilities and insights will be of significant value to the future development of HRL and he is a great cultural fit for the company. I am sure shareholders will enthusiastically support Richard's formal election to the Board later in this meeting. I also want to make mention of the positive contribution of Tracy Dare during her tenure as a non-executive Director.
I wish to thank our CEO, Steven Dabelstein, the Executive and Management team at HRL and also all of our valued employees in the individual business units in both Australia and New Zealand for their diligence, enthusiasm and commitment throughout the past year. Once again, we are a better, stronger company for the experiences of the last year. That experience will hold us in good stead through the coming years. I am confident that HRL Holdings is in an excellent position to embark on an exciting period of growth and development in the years to come.
Finally, and importantly, I would like to thank our loyal shareholders, clients and suppliers for their support throughout the past year, and I would like to assure all stakeholders that we are working very hard to increase the value the company delivers.
I am now pleased to invite our CEO, Steven Dabelstein, to provide his report to you.
www.hrlholdings.com | ABN 99 120 896 371 | ASX Code: HRL
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Steve Dabelstein
CEO
HRL Holdings Limited
Annual General Meeting - 22 October 2020
HRL returned a strong performance for the first 9 months of FY2020 exceeding internal budgets and was on track to achieve full year broker consensus at the time. However, the fourth quarter was heavily impacted by the effects of COVID-19. The stage 4 lockdown in New Zealand resulted in many of HRL's New Zealand operations being unable to trade, and demand weakened in the Australian businesses. Despite this 4th quarter disruption, the overall financial performance of the group was an improvement on FY2019 across all key metrics:
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Revenue $32.8M (up 7%, FY2019: $30.8M)
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Underlying EBITDA $6.9M (up 24%, FY2019: $5.5M)
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Underlying NPAT $2.5M (up 61%, FY2019: $1.5M)
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Cashflow from operations $7.4M (up 116%, FY2019: $3.4M, excluding subsidies received and vendor earnouts)
While all business units were performing well leading into COVID-19, the standout business unit in the 4th quarter was the New Zealand food laboratory which was deemed an essential service by the government and continued to trade. To keep our staff safe, we made some operational changes to our teams which delivered a continuity of service for our clients in the honey, dairy and food origin segments.
www.hrlholdings.com | ABN 99 120 896 371 | ASX Code: HRL
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HRL Holdings Ltd. published this content on 22 October 2020 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 22 October 2020 01:14:07 UTC