PZ Cussons Plc (PZC) Q2 2024 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

So, good morning everyone. Thank you to those who have joined us in person and to those of you who have dialed in. Today, Sarah and I will update you on our results for the first half of the year and progress against our strategy. As usual, I'll give some initial thoughts on our overall progress. Sarah will take you through the financials and then I'll provide some more detail on our strategic progress. And as ever, there'll be plenty of time for Q&A at the end. First, though, let me spend a moment to provide an overview of where we are on our journey to transform PZ Customs, a journey which began nearly three years ago with the rollout of a new strategy, a new purpose and new values. When I compare PZ Customs today to the PZ Customs of three or more years ago, then it's clear we have made good underlying progress, building a business better able to navigate the external challenges we encounter. We've injected new capabilities and bolstered leadership throughout the organisation, renewing our ambition and creating a bias to action, making progress on many fronts. This progress is perhaps best demonstrated by the sustained performance of our business and brands in Australia and New Zealand over the past couple of years, and more recently by the turnaround of our UK personal care business, now delivering growth in market share, in revenue and in profitability in the first half, including the return to growth of Carex in our second quarter. However, despite this progress, there have clearly been some material external developments in recent months, even recent weeks. We have flagged before that there would be an impact of last June's Naira devaluation to our reported results. And today is the first set of results that we are reporting that cover the period of the devalu...