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Highlights

  • The Vanguard Group became the third-largest GWA shareholder with a 5.021% stake.
  • In FY24, GWA’s revenue rose by 0.4% to AUD 413.5 million.
  • GWA focuses on targeted markets such as aged care, healthcare, homebuilders, and build-to-rent projects.

GWA Group Limited (ASX:GWA) supplies building fixtures and fittings designed for commercial and household premises. Recently, an investment management and advisory firm, The Vanguard Group, Inc. and its related companies have shown significant interest in GWA. As announced on 22 November 2024 through an ASX update, Vanguard Group became a substantial and third-largest GWA shareholder, with 5.021% of voting power.

Perpetual Investment Management Limited has the maximum holding in the company with a shareholding of 16.27%, followed by Spheria Asset Management Pty Limited holding 7.87%. Notably, the top shareholders of GWA have around 49.31% of the total shareholding.

Recent financial performance

In the financial year 2024 (FY24), GWA’s normalised revenue increased by 0.4% to AUD 413.5 million, while normalised EBITDA increased by 4% YoY to AUD 92.6 million and net debt dropped 17.1% YoY to AUD 97 million. The company highlighted that its net debt reached the lowest level in five years.

In the first quarter of FY25, group revenue jumped 4.2% YoY, including a 5.5% YoY increase in Australia revenue, a 13.7% YoY drop in New Zealand revenue and an 11.8% YoY rise in UK revenue.

Outlook

GWA’s evolving strategy, with a continued emphasis on ‘Customer First’ and ‘Profitable Volume Growth’, remains anchored on the ‘Win the Plumber’ initiative, providing a solid foundation for FY25 and beyond.

Despite challenges across most market segments, GWA focuses on targeted opportunities, including commercial aged care and healthcare, volume home builders, social and affordable housing/build-to-rent projects, as well as maintenance plumbers and commercial office refurbishments. In FY25, modest recovery is anticipated in the United Kingdom, with growth expected in new builds and the repair & renovation sectors.

Dividend

GWA announced a final dividend of 8cps, which was paid on 6 September 2024. The dividend was fully franked. This took the fully franked dividend to 15 cents, up 15%.

Share performance of GWA

GWA shares closed at AUD 2.36 per share on 17 December 2024. In the past one year, the share price has jumped 11.32%, and in the past three months, the share price has increased by almost 1.72%.

52-week high of GWA is AUD 2.87, recorded on 14 March 2024 and 52-week low is AUD 2.07, recorded on 18 December 2023.

Note 1: Past performance is neither an Indicator nor a guarantee of future performance.

Note 2: The reference date for all price data, and currency, is 17 December 2024. The reference data in this report has been partly sourced from EODHD/Others.