Entain plc

Good morning and thank you for joining us today for our interim results presentation. I'll start with a brief overview touching on the headlines for the half year. Rob will take you through the numbers and guidance and I'll then provide a broader business update focusing on our key objectives to drive shareholder value. However, Before we get to our agenda, let me introduce our chairman, Barry Gitson, to say a few words regarding our progress in resolving the HMRC investigation into legacy issues dating back to pre-2017 that we also announced this morning. So, good morning, Barry. Over to you.

Thank you, Jette. Good morning, and I too would like to welcome you to our half one results presentation. and to reflect on a positive set of results which show clear delivery against our strategic growth ambitions. Alongside our results today, we've provided an update in respect of the HMRC investigation into our former Turkish-facing online betting and gaming business, which we disposed of back in 2017. Whilst negotiations with the CPS remain ongoing, we believe that they have progressed to the point where we are likely to be able to agree a resolution to the investigation, subject to court approval. We have therefore announced today that we have made a provision of £585 million against a potential settlement, which will be payable over a four-year period. We are very pleased indeed to be making good progress towards drawing a line under this historical issue. which relates to a business that was sold by a former management team of the group nearly six years ago. The Entain of today bears no resemblance to the GVC of yesterday, which had a different management team, a different strategy, and to be blunt, different standards. Over the last few years, we've taken very deliberate steps to drive a complete transformation to become a best-in-class, responsible operator with outstanding corporate governance. Every aspect of our business model, strategy and culture has been reviewed, analysed and changed. We've also completely overhauled the board and the leadership team. And I'm now very confident in saying that the culture of the two businesses is worlds apart and Entain today is a very different business I'm pleased that the CPS has recognised our extensive cooperation, which I think is a reflection of who we are today, rather than the culture of old. We now have a very straightforward approach when choosing where in the world we operate. All of our revenue is from regulated or regulating markets, and we're proud to be the only global operator that can make that 100% claim. If a market isn't showing signs of having a clear road to regulation, then we leave. It's as simple as that. More broadly, our philosophy is that the most sustainable business in our industry will be the most successful business in our industry. That drives everything from our long-term growth plans to the way we aim to treat all of our stakeholders, from customers, shareholders, regulators, business partners, and of course our colleagues and the way we reward them. None of this is to say that we're complacent. There's still a huge amount more for us to do, not least in capturing the substantial growth opportunities that we see in front of us. These are exciting times for our industry as the worlds of entertainment, media and gaming converge. So in many ways, we're only just getting started. We are pleased that we're making good progress to move on from this matter and focus entirely on Entain's future, rather than concerning ourselves with legacy issues. I'm sure you can appreciate that there's a limit to what more I can say on the details of the process itself. But I will stay on the line, and if there are any questions on this issue at the end of the presentation, I will try and help. And with that, I'll hand back to Jetta.

Thank you. We made a strong start to the year, continuing to deliver strategically, operationally, and sustainably, which I am pleased to report is evidenced in our financial performance. Our group MGR, including our share of BetMGM, was up 16%. While online NGR on a performer basis was up 1% versus last year, if we exclude the known regulatory headwinds in the UK and Germany, performer online NGR was up 6%. This is important as it shows that our core underlying business remains healthy and the strength of our customer proposition continues to deliver robust top-line growth. Within online, we saw strong performance, in particular in Italy, by Supersport in Croatia, Enlabs in the Baltics, Crystalbed in Georgia, and of course by Ben & Jim in the US. We are pleased to see that regulation has now been passed in Brazil that should allow for licensed operators to commence early next year, subject to a pathway to be proposed by the legislators. And while Latin America has experienced intense competition ahead of regulation, we are now starting to see the benefits of improvements we have made there, including our 365 scores acquisition, supporting a good performance as we start the second half. So we are well-placed to drive further growth in a newly regulated market. Retail continues to perform impressively as our market-winning strategies continue to drive share gains. Reported EBITDA for the group for the first half came in at 499 million pounds, up 6% year-on-year, with online EBITDA up 8%. A good performance and in line with full-year expectation of 1 billion to 1.05 billion pounds for total group EBITDA. What I think best underlines our operational performance is the continued strong growth in online actives, again reaching a new record high, up 23% versus last year. This is the clearest metric, which demonstrates our sustainable growth, and I'll talk more about that later. And as you saw, BetMGM also achieved profitability for the second quarter and is on track for sustainable profitability from the second half onwards, an important milestone. Finally, we have expanded our presence in Central Eastern Europe with the acquisition of STS, as well as making some exciting acquisitions to enhance customer engagement and accelerate our capabilities, particularly for BetMGM. With that, over to you, Rob.