I continue to be both amazed and proud of the passion and enthusiasm shown by our independent retailers in serving their local communities. Our retail networks are predominantly made up of family-owned small businesses, with many of them multi-generational. They provide a differentiated value and unique shopping proposition for their customers and are enormous contributors to local communities and the national economy.

This year’s results represent further growth on the exceptional performance in the prior two years. Our three-year growth is substantial with Underlying Profit After Tax up ~55% and dividends up 80%. Importantly, the strong performance has been in all pillars and across all retail networks.