PGG Wrightson Limited logo

Annual Shareholders Meeting Presentation and Results

AGM24 October 2023PGWIndustrials

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PGG WRIGHTSON LIMITED

ANNUAL SHAREHOLDERS’ MEETING – HYBRID

9:30am, Wednesday, 25 October 2023


Slide 1 – Meeting Opening Slide




Slide 2 – Welcome – Introduction






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Slide 3 – How to participate in the Virtual/Hybrid Meeting (Q&A)




Slide 4 – How to participate in the Virtual/Hybrid Meeting (Voting)




Slide 5 – Board of Directors





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Slides 6 to 7 – Executive Team






Slide 8 – Opening Formalities




Apologies


Notice of Meeting


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Minutes


Annual Report 2023


GAAP and non-GAAP Performance Measures


Proxies and Postal Votes


Slide 9 – Business of the Meeting – Chair’s Address & CEO’s Review




Slide 10 – Deputy Chair’s Address





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Slide 11 – FY22 Financial Year Performance Highlights




Financial performance highlights for the financial year ended 30 June 2023:


• Our Operating EBITDA was $61.2 million, down 9% on the prior year.


• Net profit after tax was $17.5 million, down 28% on the prior year.


• Operating revenue of $975.7 million, up 2% on the prior year.


• Gross profit of $252.8 million, up 2% on the prior year.


• Net Cash Flow from Operating Activities of $25.5 million, up 8% on the prior year.


• Fully imputed dividends for the year of 22 cents per share.


These results were realised with margins broadly in line with the comparative period. This

is the second strongest trading performance for the business since the PGG Wrightson

Seeds divestment.


The resilient performance of PGW in volatile market conditions is perhaps the most

pleasing aspect of the result. Strong operating results were generated by most business

units with Livestock, Wool, and Water all experiencing solid demand. Rural Supplies and

Fruitfed Supplies again delivered standout performances. The exception was our Real

Estate business which continues to operate in a difficult market.


Macro trading conditions for the year were volatile with increasing input costs and

inflationary pressures, falling commodity returns for our clients, and a wet and cold spring

delivering frosts which affected a number of crops. Two cyclones through late summer

also resulted in significant crop and rural infrastructure damage in the North Island.


In the context of these market conditions, we are heartened by the performance of the

business. We are proud of the way our team responded to the demands experienced in

their regions and the extraordinary efforts of many in the way they supported each other,

our clients, and their communities in need.



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Slide 12 – Group Operating EBITDA




Group Operating EBITDA of $61.2 million is a positive result against the challenging

backdrop.


Rural Supplies and Fruitfed Supplies experienced standout performances with strong

performances in Livestock, Wool, and Water. Our Real Estate business operated in

difficult market conditions.


Slide 13 – Group Revenue




Revenue of $975.7 million was higher compared to the prior year and was up $23 million

or 2 per cent from FY22.



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Slide 14 – Group Net Profit After Tax




NPAT in this financial year was $17.5 million which was down $6.8 million or 28 per cent

on last year. Margins were broadly in line with the prior year.


Slide 15 – Group Strategic Results & Measures




The implementation of our PGW Group Strategy remains a key focus with execution of

initiatives linked to our eight strategic priorities. Our strategy centres around our ‘why’.

Being proud of our respected history in the New Zealand agri-sector while concentrated

on the future and growth opportunities for the PGW Group.


Ultimately our strategy is to provide superior service and offerings to our clients and

consistent growth to our shareholders. This will be achieved by working alongside our

clients and advancing the technical expertise we provide to help grow their businesses.

The depth of the relationships we have with our clients positions us well to meaningfully

contribute to their farming and growing operations. These relationships based on trust

and experience become even more important in challenging market conditions.



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Over the course of the last year, we undertook an assessment of each business unit’s

strategic initiatives and performance indicators and tracked these through at a PGW

Group level. This exercise served to gauge the pace of progress and the desired

outcomes of our strategic objectives.


For several years we have tracked and reported against several published Results and

Measures as part of our PGW Group Strategy. The measures track our performance in

relation to financial performance, safety performance, and customer experience. These

measures cover three important areas where we want to grow and improve. This year’s

results have been impacted by more challenging operating conditions and we comment

on each in turn:


Financial Performance Measures: Our internal financial performance measures include

two key indicators. Firstly, we target growth through the cycles in excess of Consumer

Price Index, known as CPI. This is measured by comparing our normalised Earnings

Before Interest and Tax, or EBIT, growth against the CPI. During FY23 we recorded a

normalised EBIT growth of -21.3 per cent. We normalise EBIT by excluding non-operating

gains or losses and impairment and fair value gains or losses.


A second financial measure that we target is to achieve a Total Shareholder Return,

referred to as TSR, exceeding 10 per cent per annum. TSR is calculated annually based

on the movement in our share price plus the dividends paid. The TSR for FY23 was flat

at zero per cent, below our target. The business maintained a steady dividend at 22 cents

per share for FY23.


Health & Safety Measure: The health, safety, and wellbeing of our people is of critical

importance to PGW. To track our safety performance, we measure our Total Recordable

Injury Frequency Rate, known as TRIFR, performance so we can demonstrate

continuous improvement in our safety outcomes. PGW’s TRIFR for FY23 was 26.47 and

the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate for FY23 was 6.62.


These calculations are based on contracted hours worked by permanent and temporary

employees, using a base of 1 million hours. This provides us with an opportunity to

address and improve this figure in future years, noting the increase on our FY20 baseline

is partially explained by an increased focus in FY23 on identification and reporting of

injuries.


Customer Experience Measure: A key feature of PGW’s success as a business is the

trust our clients place in our company, people, and brand. Given customer experience is

so important to our continued success as a business, a key objective in our strategy is to

target incremental improvement in our PGW Group Net Promoter Scores. These scores

are a commonly used measurement of customer satisfaction and loyalty which is based

on a customer’s likelihood to recommend a service or business.


In FY23 our PGW Group NPS was stable, and in line with FY22. We consider this is a

reasonable and understandable result given the challenges weighing heavily on farmer

confidence and sentiment - such as a high inflation, increased interest rates, softening

returns, and in some regions the impact of severe weather events.


Our Chief Executive Officer Stephen Guerin will now provide an operational overview.


Slide 16 – Chief Executive Officer’s Review


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PGW recorded operating cash flows during the year of $25.5 million. This was up $1.8

million on the prior year noting it included $8.2 million of higher income tax payments

related to the exceptional FY22 result.


PGW invested in working capital during the year, including implementation of our strategy

to grow GO-STOCK. This resulted in a balance of $74.0 million at 30 June 2023, an

increase of $7.9 million from 30 June 2022. Inventories were $5.5 million higher than the

prior financial year end due to more inventory being held owing to higher sales volumes

in the Retail and Water business and also at higher values due to continued supply chain

disruptions.


Capital expenditure of $17.1 million was $8.4 million higher than the prior year. This

increase was driven by investment in our IT Systems Business Improvement Programme.

This includes both operating expenditure and capital expenditure components and is due

to go-live in 2024.


Our net interest-bearing debt was $65.3 million as at 30 June 2023, an increase of $32.5

million from the prior comparative period.


The Business Improvement Programme to simplify our IT systems made good progress

with its first phase successfully implemented in July 2023. The main component of the

programme is expected to be completed in FY24. The benefits expected from the

consolidation of systems and renewal of processes include greater efficiency, flexibility,

better utilisation of our data, and improved security.


Since the launch of our refreshed Max Rewards loyalty programme in November 2022,

membership growth has been steady. As well as a brand-new look, our clients have an

enhanced shopping experience, membership tiers, and access to wider member benefits

as part of the programme. Max Rewards differentiates our client offering in the

competitive agribusiness servicing market.


During the financial year PGW’s property maintenance requirements were transitioned to

a specialist third party facilities manager. Using a specialist provider to engage

contractors provides us with efficiencies and enhances our capacity to deliver

professional repairs and maintenance work with a greater degree of compliance

assurance.


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At 30 June 2023 PGW had 1,572 permanent and temporary (fixed term) employees, and

323 casual and commission agents, totalling 1,895 people.


Our people are the heart of our business, and our efforts continue to ensure PGW is not

only a great place to work, but to develop great people who relate to our clients and the

local communities where we operate.


Investing in our people is a strategic imperative for PGW as we support and develop our

people to be able to deliver on our strategy. Three key pillars of Leadership & Expertise,

Safe & Certain, and Recognition provide the anchors of our People & Safety strategy.


We have revitalised our Learning & Development and technical training programmes and

have made ongoing improvements to our safety resources and systems. In the past year

we concentrated on leadership development, our safety and wellbeing culture, sales

training, team culture, and a wide range of eLearning courses.


We have also delivered on providing opportunities for those showing strength in

leadership early in their careers and those who have displayed the skills and aptitude to

enhance their careers by working as part of cross-functional teams on our Business

Improvement Programme.


PGW continues to take a disciplined approach to controlling our critical risks. Our revised

Health, Safety, & Wellbeing roadmap has made significant progress this past year by

engaging and learning from those who are closest to our critical risks.


It is also encouraging to see an increase in our people prioritising safety. This has been

demonstrated through monthly nominations of colleagues for our bimonthly Executive

Safety Leadership Award.


Guided by the Environment and Sustainability pillar within the PGW Group Strategy,

PGW was pleased to release its Sustainability Strategy to 2030. This strategy establishes

PGW’s positioning on a range of key Environmental, Social, and Governance issues. We

have targets around greenhouse gas emissions reductions, fleet management, energy

efficiency, and other social and governance metrics.


PGW has committed to reduce its operational (scope 1 & 2) greenhouse gas emissions

by 30 per cent by FY30 from its FY21 baseline. As part of this commitment, PGW has

undertaken a comprehensive process to calculate its current and historic emissions

profile, including seeking external assurance. PGW has identified its largest sources of

emissions and put in place a series of strategic actions to address these. PGW has also

committed to transparency through public reporting and has aligned our reporting to the

Global Reporting Initiative Standards. These Standards assist organisations to

understand and communicate their impacts on a range of issues such as climate change,

human rights, and corruption.


The damage caused to our clients from Cyclone Gabrielle and Northland flooding was

substantial, with the effects and recovery going to be felt for a number of years to come.

Whilst sobering seeing the devastation the cyclone caused it was heartening to see that

the fabric of our rural communities is strong and resilient.


Our local teams did a fantastic job supporting our clients and growers, often while having

to deal with their own personal impacts. We had a lot of staff from around the country


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travel to the affected areas to help the local teams and provide additional support where

needed. Our people have been outstanding in how they responded to the challenges this

event brought and continue to demonstrate how PGW plays an important role in our

communities, as well as looking out for each other.


We worked in conjunction with Ag Proud and Federated Farmers to capture donations

for distribution to the Rural Support Trusts in the impacted areas. Our retail stores and

livestock saleyards collected approximately $32,000 which was distributed to the Rural

Support Trust and Federated Farmers who were on the ground doing great work to

support those in need. Internally, PGW raised over $115,000 from employees and other

donations.


We will now discuss our operational highlights.


Slide 17 – 2023 Group Operational Highlights




Some of the operational highlights achieved over the year include the following:


• Fruitfed Supplies Crop Monitoring business celebrated its 25

th

anniversary.


• Since the launch of our refreshed Max Rewards loyalty programme in November 2022,

we have seen steady membership growth.


• Agritrade celebrated its 10

th

anniversary.


• Our Water technicians completed certified training with Valley Irrigation.


• bidr sold its first dairy herd forward contract online.


• PGW’s young talented livestock auctioneers achieved a trifecta by winning first,

second, and third in the 11th annual Heartland Bank Young Auctioneers Competition

at Canterbury Park.


• We achieved a Scope 1 & 2 emissions reduction of 10 per cent from our FY21 base

year.


Slides 18 – Business Unit Financial Results


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Turning now to the performance of our two operating groups, Retail & Water and Agency.


Slides 19 to 20 – Retail & Water






The Retail & Water business incorporates Rural Supplies, Fruitfed Supplies, Water, and

Agritrade. Retail & Water’s Operating EBITDA was an impressive $54.1 million and up

$1.6 million on the prior year. Revenue of $785.3 million, was up $24.0 million.


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The financial year marked another record for our Retail & Water businesses. Increased

sales were recorded in the animal health, fencing, general merchandise, and horticultural

merchandise categories. We transacted increased business volumes with the same level

of staff which is something we are very proud of and a testament to the commitment of

our team members.


Our clients appreciate the superior technical ability of our people who are backed by our

dedicated Research and Development team and the technological platforms they utilise.

We will continue to build on this point of difference to ensure we maintain and grow our

market share.


International travel recommenced after COVID-19 travel restrictions with visits to our

suppliers in America, Europe, Australia, and Singapore. These trips are crucial to the

business to ensure that we are at the forefront of new research and products coming to

the market. These visits also foster and reforge relationships with our suppliers and

overseas partners and create favourable trading partnerships.


During the financial year we invested in the personal development of our teams with

targeted training on sales growth, performance, financial planning, and sales

conversations.


Technical investments included a fridge sensor trial with Spark to help safeguard

products in our care such as animal health vaccines, horticultural pheromones, and deer

velvet. These products must be kept at controlled temperatures to comply with our

assurance obligations and digitalising the process reduces wastage and improves

reliability. The success of the trial has led to a company-wide rollout being approved.


Global supply chain disruption following the pandemic caused us to carry higher levels of

inventory to ensure we could provide our clients with the right products at the right time.

Elevated inventory levels caused some challenges with storage and working capital

management. As international shipping delays are easing there is more certainty

regarding deliveries, and we have adjusted inventory levels given that we do not need to

carry the same quantities of buffer stock.


As part of our continual store improvement programme, our Richmond store relocated to

a new purpose-built premise. This new store provides an enhanced client experience and

a better working environment with improved safety. Our Retail & Water property

programme includes a move to new stores for our Timaru Rural Supplies and Water

Teams, and refurbishments for our Waimate and Geraldine stores. Enhancing our retail

footprint allows us to accommodate growth, expand existing product ranges, stock new

products, and meet the future needs of our clients. This continual investment is a

demonstration of our commitment and support to our local communities.


The online sales channel has continued its growth with pleasing performance in the

apparel and general merchandise categories. Improvements in user experience and

promotional activity were contributing factors to an uplift in sales for the third consecutive

year. We continue to see positive flow-on impacts in-store through cash sales from raising

awareness of PGW’s product range.


Rural Supplies recorded its best trading results to date, exceeding last year’s record

performance, with strong sales across a range of categories. We have continued to grow


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market share across a range of categories and delivered strong results in a shrinking

market. To achieve growth on last year is an exceptional outcome given the climatic

challenges faced and demonstrates the strength of our Rural Supplies business.


Our people are passionate and motivated to go the extra mile for our hardworking clients.

We are winning new business and seeking opportunities with key accounts in animal

health, forestry, and the everchanging landscape of our traditional business.


Our Marketing Team launched a brand awareness and growth campaign titled, ‘Working

alongside you, every season of the year’. The campaign focuses on our people and their

passion to help grow clients’ businesses, and our support of our local communities. This

spring our campaign promotes our technical offering and the value our Technical Field

Representatives offer.


Last year the wet spring conditions contributed to additional Ag chem sales in our Fruitfed

Supplies winery and horticultural business. Our market share also increased in the

vegetable sector which is an important area where we have targeted growth.


The damage caused by spring frosts and floods across parts of the North Island and the

impacts from Cyclone Gabrielle in the Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay regions will impact the

Fruitfed Supplies business over the next few seasons. However, the long-term outlook

for horticulture remains positive. Our Fruitfed Supplies strategic plan focuses on adapting

to changes in the industry, capitalising on category growth, and how we can proactively

and strategically adapt to land use change. We are proud of our reputation as leaders,

with industry organisations approaching us to assist them in finding solutions.


Fruitfed Supplies extended its messaging during its brand campaign which focused on

its innovative capabilities and R&D product trials that support the horticultural sector. This

was alongside showcasing the crop monitoring and expert teams who work closely with

growers to transfer technical knowledge into the field. The campaign provided the

opportunity to launch a dedicated Fruitfed Supplies Facebook page, and other channels

including digital airport billboards in the main horticultural regions to increase brand

awareness.


Our Blenheim branch received its second BRCGS Global Food Safety Standard audit

clearance after becoming accredited in 2021. We received an AA rating which is the

highest rating possible. Having such a globally recognised Food Safety Certification

verifying our quality and product safety systems has important advantages for our clients.

Fruitfed Supplies won the Indevin/Villa Maria Legends Supplier Award at their annual

prizegiving.


Our Crop Monitoring business celebrated its 25

th

anniversary. Crop Monitoring Scouts

provide a valuable service to our clients in the field monitoring for pests, diseases, and

beneficial insects across a range of crops.


The Water business’ strategic focus is to add value to our clients’ businesses by growing

service delivery and the best technical advice. We are the market leader with the most

technically skilled workforce as verified by Valley and the only current Valley Certified

Field Technicians and Certified Valley Designers in the country.


Supply chain issues have eased, and we have delivered a number of pivots on farm.

Service revenue has remained consistent. Our Sales and Design crew are actively


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targeting irrigator upgrade options and enquiries for infill irrigation are increasing,

specifically where clients see the benefit of fixed grid solutions.


Agritrade, our wholesale business division, celebrated its 10

th

anniversary in September

2022 and showed good growth over this period. This past financial year has seen another

lift in sales revenue with growth across horticultural inputs and animal health products.

Our range continues to expand as suppliers look to us to supply product given our

logistics capability and growing reach to merchants and vets across the country.


2023 provided an opportunity to review and improve the Agritrade business structure to

deliver further independence and provide greater focus as we continually look to

profitably grow our wholesale business and increase efficiencies.


In addressing sustainability through our logistics supply chain, we are working with our

suppliers to assist in reducing their freight carbon emissions. We have also reduced our

reliance on LPG through the rollout of electric forklifts and have been working with

Agrecovery on customer-focused plastic recycling solutions.


Slides 21 to 22 – Agency






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Our Agency group incorporates the Livestock, Wool and Real Estate businesses.

Operating EBITDA was $16.1 million and was down $5.8 million on the prior year’s strong

result. Revenue was $188.8 million, which was broadly in line with the prior year’s result.


Our Livestock business achieved a solid performance in a difficult market. Whilst there

were challenges through softer sheep pricing, significant wet weather events in the North

Island, and declining tallies in some stock lines, there were also positive outcomes for the

year. The wet conditions contributed to greater pasture growth than normal which created

trading opportunities during the summer and autumn periods.


Revenues received for cattle were robust, with higher prices received compared to the

prior year. This was driven by healthy pricing achieved throughout the year which was

assisted by abundant feed and increases in export volumes. Sheep pricing was below

expectations throughout much of the year as demand was slow to recover in key export

markets.


Declines in some tallies were experienced due to land use change, especially with

conversion of sheep and beef properties to carbon forestry. This is anticipated to slow

due to new regulation covering farm-to-forestry conversions requiring resource consents.


GO-STOCK, our grazing programme which frees up capital for farmers to invest in other

areas of their businesses, achieved another record year with the highest balances

recorded in terms of values and tallies. During FY23, two significant milestones were

reached with over 350,000 cattle and 2.3 million lambs purchased through GO-STOCK

since its launch in 2016.


bidr® is New Zealand’s virtual saleyard, offering real-time live auctions. During the period

bidr’s database of buyers grew to over 9,500 users. This growth is driven by continued

demand for online bidding and livestreaming of cattle sales at saleyards and on-farm

auctions. bidr hosted over 900 auctions during FY23, including regular weekly sales at

10 saleyards.


bidr’s 100% online offering continues to see an uptake in niche sheep and beef genetics

and elite dairy sales. FY23 saw the fruition of developments implemented the prior year,

particularly with new auction capabilities enabling online buyers to ‘pick’ individual

animals for purchase from a pen containing multiple animals. This has proved popular

with the dairy and ram markets.


The Deer and Velvet business delivered a strong performance, recording its best trading

results. This was achieved through increases in volumes traded with South Korean health

food customers. China’s extended shutdown caused slower sales which reduced prices

on the prior year. With all velvet stock sold and exported, it remains a profitable income

stream for deer clients and continues to grow in both production and quality.


The Genetics business achieved some outstanding results with its bull sales. The team

is investigating the value add of a ‘beef over dairy’ strategy which will benefit dairy farmers

seeking genetics that shorten gestation, maximise ease of birth, and increase profitability

of cattle.


Success in saleyards from a through-put perspective, especially in the North Island,

flowed through to on-farm sales. During the period National Saleyards Limited was

successfully established. This new entity operates several jointly owned saleyards across


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the North Island. Technological innovations included the enhancement of agOnline,

which is the most viewed rural website in the country. The online Blue Notebook was

upgraded and creates more options for our agents to transact and source information

digitally.


Overall, the wool business had a solid year with total bales procured into stores in line

with the prior year. Wool growers continue to be negatively impacted by strong wool

prices. PGW Wool had another steady fine wool season, growing market share supported

by high value long-term merino contracts with growers.


While the challenges of navigating international supply chains have eased, the impacts

of Cyclone Gabrielle continue to pose a challenge for the New Zealand wool supply chain.

WoolWorks New Zealand Limited's Awatoto wool scour was impacted by flooding and

remediation work is expected to complete by the end of the year.


As wool's natural and sustainable fibre story grows stronger, consumers are beginning to

appreciate the environmental benefits of the product. PGW is an active proponent of the

advantages of wool and continues to invest in the business.


PGW extended its wool contract business by linking wool growers with manufacturers

both domestically and internationally. We also received increased enquiries from

domestic and international retail brands. We expect that rising demand for organic wool

will see growers supported by price increases in time. In the latter part of the financial

year, we saw a significant number of overseas clients visiting our shores to get on farm

and meet our wool growers. A key focus of clients is to better understand the supply chain

for wool production and farming practices.


Our Wool Integrity Programme provides assurances that our wool has been ethically

grown. During the year we released our Wool Integrity marketing video ‘From New

Zealand woolsheds to the world’. The story follows the wool journey, beginning on-farm

and finishing up on the other side of the world where it has been manufactured into high-

quality products. The campaign highlights how PGW Wool and our export subsidiary

Bloch & Behrens supports growers to produce an ethical fibre that is grown to world

leading farm standards, while also connecting them to the global market.


PGW Wool extended its support to the Campaign for Wool’s ‘Wool in Schools’ initiative

where mobile ‘wool sheds’ travel across New Zealand, visiting primary and intermediate

schools to educate children about the wonders of wool.


The real estate market has experienced one of the toughest years in some time with

higher interest rates, stricter regulatory requirements, softening commodity prices, and

uncertainty regarding the outcome of the general election all contributing to negative

sentiment.


This was reflected in operating results for PGW’s Real Estate with the decline in market

activity leading to significantly fewer sales being made than in the prior financial year. On

the positive side, we maintained and increased market share in some regions.


Whilst it was pleasing to see PGW Real Estate involved in some large rural properties

being transacted, this did not offset the low sale volumes experienced throughout the

year, particularly in the lifestyle property market.


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We launched the refreshed PGW Real Estate website which has a contemporary design

that provides easy accessibility and enhances user navigation.


PGW Real Estate expanded its profile in Wairarapa and Central Hawke’s Bay through

the acquisition of a real estate business with several branches which contributed to

increasing our overall market share.


Slides 23 to 24 – First Quarter FY2024






We are into the busy spring period, and it is warming up with increased activity on-farm

and orchard with growth rates picking up across the country. The first quarter got off to a

relatively subdued start with cooler conditions initially and farm and orchard spending

indicators back on last year. Farmer and grower sentiment dipped lower and investment

intentions have fallen to their weakest levels since the 1980's, excluding the first COVID-

19 lockdown. The good news for us is that our market share is steady and in some areas

we are continuing to make gains.


Whilst we cannot influence our customers spend appetites, we can keep a strong focus

on areas of our business that we can control, for example inventory, cash flow and

operating expenses. These are areas that we continue to proactively manage as

appropriate for the operating environment we are in. Although we have seen spending


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patterns back off in discretionary inputs, much of the business we do involves necessary

seasonal spend for our customers that is essential for their growing operations.


Our Deputy Chair, Sarah Brown will now discuss the outlook.


Slides 25 to 26 – Outlook






There is a significant degree of volatility in the global economy and international markets

currently. New Zealand, like our key trading partner nations, is committed to bringing

inflation under control and we have seen interest rates increase to help achieve that. The

effect of this monetary policy is being felt with inflation levels beginning to trend lower but

with elevated interest rates raising borrowing costs.


While PGW is well positioned operationally, we see continuing volatility and softening

commodity prices for our clients and challenging macro market conditions out over the

short to medium term.


As Stephen mentioned, increased concerns over the outlook for agricultural commodity

prices in the year ahead has pushed New Zealand farmer sentiment to record lows

according to the latest Rabobank Rural Confidence survey. We have seen the movement

in dairy forecasts in recent months along with soft demand for sheep meat. Demand in

key markets has declined and China’s economic recovery remains subdued.


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While some of the sector is recovering from last summer’s cyclones there is also concern

about the potential for drought conditions in the coming months due to El Niño whether

patterns. These factors combine to hamper confidence and reinforce cautiousness as

farmers and growers anticipate impacts on the profitability of their business operations.


While the sector faces a challenging year, this is nevertheless balanced by strong longer-

term fundamentals, and we expect an improvement as the economies in our key markets

recover. The global population and demand for protein is expected to continue to grow

and the fundamentals for the sector remain sound.


The longer-term outlook is positive, with the Ministry for Primary Industries projecting

steady growth for New Zealand’s primary exports and revenue projected to reach $62

billion by 2027. As a market leader in the agricultural sector, PGW is in a strong position

to assist our clients grow their businesses as they respond to export demand.


On balance, we remain cautious about the financial year ahead given the mixed signals

in the macroeconomic environment. As Stephen noted, trading for the first quarter was

back on last year influenced by the factors I have mentioned and a subdued real estate

market.


Although it remains early in the financial year, we are forecasting an Operating EBITDA

result for the year to 30 June 2024 of around $52 million. This is back from last year’s

strong Operating EBITDA result of $61.2 million and is based upon our current

assessment of a more cautious operating environment. It remains early in the year

however and we would hope to be in a better position to assess again after the spring

trading period.


In the meantime, the business remains focused on continuing to deliver on our strategy

and creating value as we enter our key trading period.


Slides 27 to 28 – Questions and discussion




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Slide 29 – Business of the Meeting – Resolution




Slides 30 to 31 – Ordinary Resolution: Auditor’s Remuneration







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Slide 32 – Move Resolution




Slide 33 – General Business




Closing


Slide 34 – Closing and Thank You

---

25 OCTOBER 2023
Annual Shareholders’ Meeting Results


At PGG Wrightson Limited’s

1


hybrid meeting held today, shareholders were asked to vote on one

resolution, which was supported by the Board.


As required by NZX Listing Rule 6.1, voting was conducted by a poll.


The resolution passed with a majority and details of the total number of votes cast were as follows:


Resolution For Against Abstained

1. To note the reappointment of Ernst & Young

as the Company’s auditors and authorise the

Directors to fix the auditor’s remuneration.

46,079,865

(99.68%)

148,809

(0.32%)

40,072



Authority for this announcement

Name of person authorised to make this

announcement

Julian Daly

General Manager Corporate Affairs /

Company Secretary

Contact person for this announcement Julian Daly

Contact phone number +64 27 553 3373

Contact email address jdaly@pggwrightson.co.nz

Date of release through MAP 25 October 2023



For media enquiries contact:


Registered Office:


Julian Daly

General Manager Corporate Affairs / Company

Secretary

PGG Wrightson Limited

Mobile: +64 27 553 3373

Email: companysecretary@pggwrightson.co.nz

PGG Wrightson Limited

1 Robin Mann Place, Christchurch Airport

Christchurch 8053, New Zealand

Phone: 0800 10 22 76 / +64 3 477 4520

Website: pggwrightson.co.nz




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All references to PGG Wrightson Limited refer to the company, its subsidiaries and interests in associates and jointly

controlled entities.

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