Ilika plc

afternoon ladies and gentlemen welcome to the illica plc half year results investor presentation throughout this recorded presentation investors will be in listen only mode questions are encouraged can be submitted at any time just using the q a tab on the right hand side of your screen just please type in your questions at any time and press send the company may not be in a position to answer every question received during the meeting itself however the company will review all questions submitted today and where appropriate we will publish those responses Before we begin, we'd like to submit the following poll, and I'm sure the company would be most grateful for your participation. And I'd like to hand over to CEO Graham Purdy. Good afternoon, sir.

Thank you for that kind introduction, Mark, and many thanks to everybody that's taken the time to listen to this presentation. I'm joined today by Jason Stewart, our new CFO, who is just getting his feet under the table, and he will be co-presenting with me today. Good afternoon, Noel. So let's get into the presentation now. This is a half year update that covers the period from the 1st of May last year through to the end of October. I think many of you know about my own profile. And of course, this information is on our website. So I'll just give Jason the opportunity to say a few words about his background as he's new to this forum.

Thank you, Graham. So to introduce myself, Jason Stewart, I'm a senior qualified accountant with over 20 years of experience within the commercial sector. I have a degree in business from Manchester Metropolitan University and have then been working through a number of financial roles within a variety of businesses, starting first with Kerry Foods before moving on to B&Q as part of the Kingfisher Group. before most recently being with Sunseeker International, helping them through the last 12 and a half years. Through that role, I've both helped to deploy significant capital and navigate various challenges for the business. But ultimately, the excitement and the challenge and the opportunity presented by Illica and the products that are being developed were such a great attraction that I was delighted to take the opportunity to come and join Graham and the team and hopefully provide some help towards the success of the business over the coming years.