Manchester United Ltd.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Manchester United Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. To queue for questions, please press star then 1. If anyone has difficulty hearing the call, please press star 0 for operator assistance at any time. We would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Corinna Freedman, Head of Investor Relations for Manchester United. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Manchester United's second quarter 2020 earnings call. A corresponding press release containing our financial results was issued earlier this morning and can be accessed on our IR website. Today's call is being recorded and webcast, and a replay will also be available on our site for 30 days thereafter. Before we begin, and as a matter of formality, we would like to remind everyone that this conference call will include estimates and forward-looking statements, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from these statements. Any such estimates or forward-looking statements should be considered along with the cautionary note included with our earnings release, as well as additional risk factor discussions in our prior filings with the SEC. With us on our call today, Ed Woodward, our Executive Vice Chairman, Richard Arnold, our Group Managing Director, Cliff Beatty, our Chief Financial Officer, and Hemant Asayo, our Head of Corporate Finance. I will now turn the conference call over to Executive Vice Chairman Ed Woodward for his opening remarks. Ed?

Thank you. Thank you to everyone for joining us today. Before we proceed with our usual earnings call, I would like to pay tribute briefly to Harry Gregg, who died earlier this month at age 87. Harry was one of the heroes of the Munich air disaster and a key member of Sir Busby's team of talented young players, known as the Busby Babes, making 247 appearances for the club. To borrow Sir Alex Ferguson's words, Harry was a man of great character and a true legend at our club. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and with his family and friends. I'd like to provide an overview of progress towards our number one priority, winning trophies with a team playing entertaining and attacking football. Since our last call in November, we've progressed to the knockout stages of the Europa League, we're through to the fifth round of the FA Cup, and we remain in the mix to qualify for the Champions League. This season is one of rebuild, with many changes for the squad, in terms of players who've left or gone out on loan, new players who we've brought into the club, and academy graduates that we've brought through to the first team. This process will continue as we implement our plan and our footballing vision under Oli and his coaching staff. Despite being linked to 111 players in January, our acquisition of just one of them, Bruno Fernandes, is an important step in that direction, demonstrating our commitment to adding experienced world-class recruits to the exciting crop of academy graduates that are at the heart of this developing team. We will take the same planned, disciplined approach this coming summer. In addition to the first team signings, somewhat under the radar, we've also made a number of exciting youth acquisitions in the past year, reflecting our commitment to bringing the best talent into our academy. So far this year, our academy graduates have contributed over a third of first team playing minutes this season and over half our goals, emphasising our academy status as one of the most productive and elite level European football. It's an important competitive advantage for us and represents an excellent return on the four-fold increase in investment that we've made in the academy over recent years. On wider industry matters, we know the continued strength of the Premier League with a 19% audience uplift for Sky in the season's dates The same period last season. Sitting on the Broadcast Advisory Committee at the Premier League, I see the great work being done behind the scenes and we're very pleased with the recent announcement of the Premier League's groundbreaking six-year Pan-Nordic deal, which will be effective from summer 2022. Our own long-term plan is underpinned by the enduring strength of our business, which provides us with the funds and the confidence to keep investing in our team and in our facilitators. We're proud to have been chosen to host the opening match of the 2021 Women's European Championships next season, underscoring the continued status of Old Trafford as one of Europe's most iconic football venues. The choice also reflects our growing role within the women's game, following the successful launch of our women's team last season and their immediate promotion to the Super League under the leadership of our manager, Casey Stoney. In summary, while we still have much to do, we're progressing with confidence in the right direction. I'll now hand you over to our Group Managing Director, Richard Arnold, who will update you on the key business activities. Thank you.