Argo Blockchain plc

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Argo Blockchain plc Q3 results investor presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged and can be submitted at any time just using the Q&A tab situated on the right hand corner of your screen. Please simply type in your questions at any time and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question received during today's call. However, the company can review all questions submitted today and will publish responses on the investment company platform. Before we begin, we'd like to submit the following poll and I'm sure the company would be most grateful for your participation. I'd now like to hand over to Markela, financial communications representative of Argo Blockchain.

Thank you, Mark. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that today's presentation and remarks may contain forward-looking statements. Please see your Form 20-F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for our full race disclosures. And with us today for our discussion of Q3 2024 results are Thomas Tsipas, Argos Chief Executive Officer, and Jim MacCallum, Argos Chief Financial Officer. and now I'll turn it over to Thomas for some introductory remarks.

Thank you Markela and thank you to everyone for joining us today as we talk about our progress so far this quarter and this year. Argo remains focused on our three key pillars, financial discipline, operational excellence and growth through strategic partnerships. By maintaining this focus we're steadily positioning the company to seize new opportunities for growth and development as well as whether some of the sector headwinds we'll talk about. We're committed to creating long-term shareholder value and we continue to make positive steps both for debt repayment and growth. First, a few comments on the macro environment. In Q3 2024, the macroeconomic environment impacted the Bitcoin mining sector, presenting third quarter challenges that have been felt across the sector, including by Argo. The industry continues to grapple with the lasting impact of the block award halving in April 2024. The decrease in block issuance revenue strained mining profit margins sector-wide. Argo has shown resilience in this post-halving environment where the average cost to produce one Bitcoin increased due to mining difficulty and fluctuating hash prices. A primary challenge facing miners in Q3 was the increasing cost of production as mining difficulty rose and hash prices declined. The network's daily profitability dropped to around 50% of pre-having levels. Elsewhere, the Bitcoin network difficulty metric reached historically high levels in September. Monetary policy in Q3 has also played a role in shaping the sector's trajectory. The Fed lowered interest rates for the first time in four years in September by 50 basis points, the first such reduction since the central bank began increasing rates in an effort to attain decades high inflation following the global pandemic. The pause in interest rate hikes previously provided a reprieve to risk assets like Bitcoin, and recent moves increased the attractiveness of alternative investments like Bitcoin. This shift in policy has likewise created a more stable environment for miners, as borrowing costs for infrastructure expansion and energy pricing become less volatile. While inflation pressures have eased in some areas, they do remain a significant concern. have been forced to adapt their strategies to sustain profitability amid fluctuating costs. Elsewhere, the peaks of the US spot Bitcoin ETFs Q1 rally did not repeat in Q3. Despite this, ETF purchases rebounded at the beginning of the quarter. In July, total net BTC inflows to ETFs spiked from 250,000 to 300,000 BTC. After dipping below the 300,000 mark, demand strength was also seen in late September. And of course, in the days and weeks post the US elections, we have seen strong demand for Bitcoin and ETFs. Recent political developments have raised expectations for more favorable regulatory changes that could further support the industry. Notwithstanding energy market volatility and mining difficulty, remaining key factors influencing the sector's trajectory into Q4, a key future theme is set to be innovation and diversification. Now let's turn to our highlights for the third quarter of 2024. In Q3, we mined 123 Bitcoin or approximately 1.3 Bitcoin per day and generated $7.5 million in revenue. For the nine months ended September 30, we generated $36.7 million in revenue. Our mining margin for the quarter was 8% compared to 58% in the same period last year, reflecting the impact of lower Bitcoin prices and higher energy costs. For the nine months ended September 30, 2024, the mining margin was 33% compared to 47% for the prior year period. The prior year benefited from significant power credits due to economic curtailments. We reported a net loss of $6.3 million for the quarter and $39.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024. Adjusted EBITDA was negative $2.1 million for Q3 and positive $3.9 million for the nine months compared to positive $2.4 million and $5.2 million respectively in the prior year periods. During the quarter, we reduced our debt by $12.4 million, including the full repayment of the Galaxy loan, further to leveraging our balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $2.5 million in cash and four Bitcoin equivalents held. Post-quarter, on the 11th of October, 2024, we were pleased to announce the dismissal of the class action lawsuit Murphy v. Argo Blockchain, which was dismissed with prejudice and without leave to amend. We entered into a non-binding letter of intent with B Group to explore a high-performance computing expansion at Baycomo and commenced discussions with our lender regarding expansion of the Baycomo Mortgage Facility. Finally, we received notice from Galaxy that they will not be renewing the hosting agreement at Helios beyond December 2024. While this marks a change for our hosted fleet of 23,000 S19J Pearl miners, we are actively exploring alternative arrangements to maximize the value of these rigs. Let's now move to the next slide and Jim will discuss the comparison of our quarterly results and capital structure. Jim.