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Annual Report 2017 Metcash Limited Annual Report 2017 Limited Annual Report Metcash ABN 32 112 073 480 ABN 32 112 073 480 Successful Independents Metcash is Australia’s About us .................................. 2 leading wholesaler and Chairman’s Report ................... 4 distributor, supplying and supporting more than 10,000* CEO’s Report ........................... 6 Independent Retailers across Financial Highlights .............. 10 the food, grocery, liquor and Logistics ................................ 12 hardware sectors. Food ...................................... 14 Liquor .................................... 16 Our focus is to support Hardware .............................. 18 Successful Independents to CSR ....................................... 20 become the ‘Best Store in Our people............................. 24 Town’, by providing our network Financial Report .................... 26 of strong retail brands with Corporate Information ......... 105 merchandising, operational and marketing support. * Number of Independent Retail customers 1 #About us About us Our purpose Successful independents Our vision Our distribution network Best store in every Business partner of Passionate Thriving town choice for suppliers about independents communities, giving Our national distribution network delivers products and independents shoppers choice to more than 10,000 retail premises and a further ~95,000 wholesale customers across the food, – Differentiated – Australia’s – Unlocking the – Championing local grocery, liquor and hardware markets. offer & service leading portfolio potential of entrepreneurs Our Independent Retail and wholesale customers are – Celebrating of independent our people – Pipeline of retail brands supported by distribution centres in each of the major Individuality – Inspiring future aspiring new cities, as well as a number of smaller distribution – Loved by locals – World class leaders business owners centres in regional areas. wholesaler – Sustainable Our values Integrity is our foundation Our retail footprint No of Retail Premises No of Wholesale Customers – Supporting our customers and suppliers Supermarkets 1,683 >1,400 – Our people are empowered and accountable Convenience 18 >90,000 – Adding value in our community Hardware 740 >500 Liquor 7,9851 >3,800 1 Includes 5,468 Cellarbrations on-premise customers Our model Our markets Our retail brands Independence is worth fighting for! etcash M Food Liquor Hardware R r Shopper e e i t l led a p i l p e u r 2 S 3 #Chairman’s Report Our strategy continues to focus on ensuring that independent family-owned retail businesses can thrive across the markets we serve. Balance sheet strength We also have a strong focus on organisational Rob Murray culture and employee engagement which is Chairman The financial highlight for the year was our helping underpin our performance. We have strong cash performance. This, together with a well established program in this area, with equity raised to partly fund the HTH acquisition, a high level of employee participation, which were the key drivers of net debt reducing a importantly includes the Board and senior further $194.7 million to $80.8 million. leadership team. Your Board continues to be Strengthening our financial position has been actively involved in this area and was rated a strategic priority for a number of years, and highly by both management and external Chairman’s Report it is pleasing to report that we have reduced stakeholders in the engagement survey. net debt by ~$690 million since FY14. This is a Earlier this month we announced that Jeff significant achievement. Adams will succeed Ian Morrice as Group Chief We now have a very strong financial position, Executive, following earlier advice from Ian that am pleased to present Earnings performance and this underpinned the Board’s decision he intended to retire from the role in 2018. Ian has held this position since June 2013, Underlying profit after tax for the year increased to bring forward the recommencement of Metcash’s Annual Report and has overseen the repositioning of the 9.3% over the prior year to $194.8 million. dividends with the declaration of a 4.5 cent per company through a consumer focus, a strong for 2017, a year of This excludes $22.9 million of costs related to share fully franked final dividend for FY17. The I Board has also decided to target a dividend balance sheet and a very capable management the acquisition and integration of the Home team to take the business forward. He also achievement, change and Timber & Hardware Group (HTH), as well as payout ratio of 60% commencing in FY18, with led transformation initiatives that have seen restructuring costs related to our Working interim and final dividends to be weighted challenge for the company. many of our Independent Retail customers Smarter program aimed at simplifying the way similarly to prior practice. improve their competitive position. I would like During the year we faced some of the most we do business. Underlying earnings per share to sincerely thank Ian for his significant effort difficult external conditions in our history, was 20.3 cents, and 17.9 cents including the Remuneration and achievements. particularly in Supermarkets where the $22.9 million of costs mentioned above. We have continued to refine our remuneration continuation of intense competition led to framework to deliver market-aligned Jeff has broad international experience in the The success of our Working Smarter program price deflation at very high levels. Our ability remuneration practices, including taking into retail and wholesale industries and is ideally in the year reflects considerable effort and to deliver some pleasing financial outcomes consideration concerns raised at last year’s suited to lead the company’s continued focus dedication from our people. The importance of and continue to successfully execute our Annual General Meeting. These initiatives on supporting the success of Independent this work in the context of the current external strategic initiatives in these conditions is, include a reduction in the weighting of the Retailers. We look forward to Jeff joining us in environment cannot be underestimated. I believe, admirable. Short Term Incentive component in total September this year. remuneration, as well as the inclusion of Our strategy continues to focus on ensuring Acquisition of HTH On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank more objective performance measures that independent family-owned retail our people, the leadership team and all of our The acquisition of HTH is very exciting for through moving to a balanced scorecard for businesses can thrive across the markets partner suppliers and retailers for their ongoing us. Not only is it a quality national hardware all executives. we serve. Key to this is supporting our retail support as we work to ensure a sustainable and customers to be the ‘Best Store in Town’ with a operation, it is also complementary to our Mitre 10 business. The increased scale it Remuneration outcomes for the year include healthy Independent Retailer network. localised, differentiated offer that is tailored to only one member of our Key Management provides through the creation of Australia’s I would also like to recognise the support their local community. Personnel (KMP) receiving an increase in fixed second largest hardware player, enables the and contribution of my fellow Directors. remuneration, and total bonuses paid to KMP We made significant progress in the year with expanded network to operate more efficiently Together, we have formed a hardworking and in respect of FY17 being 44% lower than for the our ‘Best Store in Town’ initiatives, including a and competitively. cohesive team. further 100 stores completing Supermarkets’ prior year. Fees for Non-Executive Directors Diamond Store Accelerator program, and an While the acquisition creates new attractive were left at a consistent level for the fifth additional 10 stores completing the Sapphire growth opportunities we will look to pursue, our consecutive year. Store Refurbishment program in Hardware. immediate focus is to ensure the integration of the two businesses continues to be smooth Further remuneration details can be found in our These have led to some truly remarkable stores remuneration report commencing on page 37. that are receiving strong customer support. and deliver on our expectations. We have a very capable team that is doing a great job, and I am Going forward, while there is still much to do, Rob Murray We have provided some more information on confident this will be achieved. we are well positioned to weather the current Chairman our ‘Best Store in Town’ initiatives, together The acquisition is also important for the difficult market conditions and pursue our with some case studies profiling how the stores growth opportunities and cost efficiencies. We are benefiting from the transformations on diversification it provides to our Group earnings, which is in line with our strategic focus on have a strong financial foundation, our strategic pages 14 to 19 of this Annual Report. I hope initiatives are delivering and there is strong you find this informative. ensuring the financial position of the company remains strong and resilient. leadership through your Board and senior leadership team. 4 5 #CEO’s Report We, and our Independent Retailers, are very The year was also a very important one in our passionate about driving growth for their history, with the acquisition of the