Pacific Brands is an excellent company. Its strength is a testimony to the effort and vision of our previous CEO Paul Moore. As the new CEO, I am honoured to have the opportunity to lead the next phase of development.

As you know, Pacific Brands has always been built on four pillars - people, products, service and brands. In previous annual reports we have talked about our talented people, our products and our services. In this report we give special focus to our power brands and how they help drive the performance of our business in all market conditions.

Pacific Brands has concluded another strong year. Despite a changing market, we delivered results in line with our commitment to our shareholders - 15-20% sales growth and more than 10% profit growth.

The measures of our performance - sales, earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA), net profit after tax (NPAT), earnings per share and dividends - continue to improve.

Like the rest of the retail sector, we were not immune to the current downturn in consumer sentiment, however our results show that our business model is resilient, well prepared and well equipped to manage through these challenging times.

I am pleased to report that our two acquisitions from the prior year, Yakka Group and Brand Collective, are being successfully integrated into our business and both contributed positively to our result.

As planned, the Yakka Group has added another dimension to Pacific Brands with a strong workwear and corporate apparel business, enabling us to leverage our product and sourcing capabilities into a predominantly new channel.

Our revenue increased by 16.3% to $2,116.6 million, our debt was reduced 7.4% to $743 million and we've maintained our strong cash flow after capital expenditure with a net figure of $157 million - up 39% on last year. Our organic growth has also continued through recent difficult conditions. Australian core business grew 2.5% for the year.

Pacific Brands today is a vastly different company to the one that listed in 2004. The essential ingredients of our company remain the same: Our great brands, products, service and our great people. We will continue to evolve, develop and improve with a dedicated leadership team committed to delivering performance and increased shareholder value.

We recently completed a full review of the company, which confirmed the effectiveness of our business strategy. Whilst exposing areas where we can improve and build on our strengths, we identified a number growth of opportunities worthy of prudent pursuit. This review has enabled the executive team to crystalise their focus on the business with a clear vision for the future, specifically targeted on growth, whilst continuing to improve those areas of the business not performing as well as we would like or expect.

This will be achieved by giving even greater focus to our strongest brands and continuing investment in our core strength of product innovation. We are also working to ensure that the retail presentation and penetration of our products improves our consumers' shopping experience.

Every indication suggests that the next year will continue to be challenging - but we are ready for it. Our great design teams will keep leading the way and developing the best products; our businesses will provide their customers the best service; and we will continue to have the brands our customers and consumers want and need.

We will continue to grow organically to deliver higher revenue. We will generate strong cash flow. In the 2009 financial year we will lift our like-for-like sales by 2-3%, EBITA and NPAT by 3-5%.

On a personal note, I would like to thank Paul Moore, the Pacific Brands Board, the Senior Leadership Team and all Pacific Brands employees for supporting me during my transition into the Chief Executive position. I feel we are well positioned to direct the company into its next phase and I look forward to working closely with the team during the coming year.