Clicks Group Ltd S/Adr (CLCGY) Q4 2023 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good afternoon and a warm welcome to the webcast of our annual results for the year end of 31 August 2023. I am Bettina Engelbrecht, Chief Executive Officer of the FIGS Group. Joining me here today is Gordon Trail, 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. I will start with a review of our financial year. Gordon will follow with an overview of our financial results. Hereafter, I will take you through the trading performances of our business units, first Plex, then UPG. And I will 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 Hemp 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 the year. Over the past 55 years of our existence, we faced unprecedented social, economic, and political changes, which tested the resilience of our business model and our people. Our sustained performance is a testament to the fact that we did not merely survive, we thrived. For the year, we delivered adjusted diluted headline earnings per share of 11.5% despite increased low chain. This result is ahead of market expectations. Our retail pharmacy team in particular demonstrated the value of focused alignment. We continue to invest for growth, and opened a net 45 new stores, which included three stores outside South Africa. We opened our 700th pharmacy in Paule, here in the Western Cape, and our 850th store in the new Ocean's Mall, Kuzulu-Natal. Customers responded favorably to our product and price offers, resultin...