Cambridge Nutritional Sciences (LSE:CNSL) — Investor Presentation

0:01 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Omega Diagnostics Group PLC Investor Presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged and could be submitted at any time using the Q and A tab situated on the right hand corner of your screen. Please type in your questions at any time and press send. The company will not be in a position to answer every question received during the meeting itself given the number of attendees on today's call. However, the company review all questions submitted today and publish responses where to do so. We'll notify you by email when they are ready for your review.

0:32 Before we begin, we'd like to submit the following poll. And if you'll give that your kind attention, I'm sure the company would be most grateful. And I now would like to hand over, if I may, to Simon Douglas, Chairman of Omega Diagnostics. Good afternoon. Thank you very much indeed, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to join the investor presentation. We we do appreciate it. To shareholders, I would like to introduce myself and the presenting team today. I'm Simon Douglas, the chair of Omega, and I'm joined by Jack Rule, our new chief executive, who's now been in the role for for five weeks, having previously run our successful health and nutrition business for a number of years. And Chris, our newly appointed CFO, who joined the group in August last year.

1:20 As you know, we, the company, and in particular, you, the shareholders, have had a very difficult few months with a considerable share price drop caused in the main by our COVID business and the failure of the government to meet its obligations, which were to identify and license a COVID lateral test for us to make and to to manufacture. When the COVID nineteen pandemic first hit, the government made a commitment to work with UK based diagnostic companies to help manage the crisis, And Omega were successful in being selected as one of many of the key partners to manufacture a COVID natural flow test. The relationship with the DHSC recognized that one of the strengths of Omega was in the manufacture of these LFT tests, but not in the development of this new test against the novel disease.

2:16 So the government supported the growth in our manufacturing infrastructure, while in parallel, they agreed to identify and supply a test to the company. As you know, the outcome of this was that Omega delivered on our obligations on the manufacturing side by scaling up our Alba site. But in the end, the government failed to present Omega with a suitable test and finally allowed the contract to expire. During this period, the share price rose significantly on the anticipation that the government would deliver on their contracts. And when they failed to do so, coupled with the COVID crisis slowing down and coming to an end, the signs were that the COVID opportunity had moved on and consequently our share price has dropped.

3:03 We're not alone in this. Unfortunately, the trend seen in many COVID related listed companies is negative, and many people are currently selling as people withdraw from stocks. We firmly believe that we have not misled the market with all our messaging to shareholders via their RNSs and social media, which reflected our view of the business at that point in time and the press prospects we had then. We're a team with high integrity, but we do recognize that the news flow from our COVID business has been a complex one.

3:38 Despite this disappointment, the new management team do believe that we have a new strategy to reposition the company. One that will focus on our core businesses, increase revenue across the group, and to reduce losses. From the point in November where we knew categorically that the government had allowed the contract to lapse and had no interest in a further extension, we as a group have moved swiftly and efficiently. A new leadership team has been established, and you'll meet both of those in the presentation. And we focused on significant growth in the profitable health and nutrition division, whilst we've also taken steps in controlling our costs through the sale of the Alva site.

4:28 I recognize that shareholder communication can improve starting today. We have shortened our presentation to allow more time for questions at the end, while keeping the integrity of the same presentation delivered to the institutions. As you're going to gather, we have received an unprecedented amount of pre submitted questions and have read each and every one of them, grouping them into key themes and topics, which we endeavor to cover off at the end of this slide deck. With so many individual shareholders on the register, unfortunately, we can't talk to each of you individually. But we are committed to ensuring we communicate fairly with all our investors governed by the AIM rules, we will treat each of you in the same way. Meetings like this, we feel, are a good vehicle.

5:15 That's just a brief introduction. I'd like to hand over now to Jack and Chris, who will take you through the details of the new plans, which will then follow by the questions, and and and then I'll close the meeting. So, Jack. Thank you, Simon. Thank you, everybody, and thank you for your attendance this afternoon. I'd just like to go through the areas that we'll be discussing later on. A brief introduction from Simon that we've had, but really focusing on a new vision and a focused strategy going forward, an update and an overview of our core businesses and then a summary. And as Simon said, I think we're very acutely aware of trying to get in as many questions and answers as possible during this valuable session with your time.

6:08 Just briefly in terms of giving you an overview of the organization and the company, men some of you may be new to Omega Diagnostics. We're a company that's been around for quite some time. We develop and manufacture diagnostic products and sell those in over 70 countries globally, mainly through a distributor network. We have two main principal divisions now, our health and nutrition division, which is a a market leader in food sensitivity testing, and that really enables health care professionals and more importantly, our patients to identify dietary changes that improve their long term health and well-being.

6:55 We then have our global health division, which is quite a quite a different business that focuses largely on global health concerns,

7:04 particularly centered around patients living with HIV. And our c d four test allows health care professionals to manage those patients, particularly in low and middle income countries. And, of course, over the past few years, as I'm sure you're aware, we've got into working with partners to develop and manufacture high quality COVID antigen tests.

7:31 So, really, the purpose of this, call today is to really, talk about our plans post COVID and how we're gonna employ the capital in further growing the business and focusing on it going forward. And really, the focus on core business is quite key, and it's really about taking control of our destiny and driving our business in those segments that we have a greater amount of control over. It's really essentially a five point plan with a new team to focus on continued growth in our health and nutrition business that has grown successfully over the last couple of years and extending it and expanding it either geographically within The US and adding to it in terms of complementary menu.

8:26 And then with our global health area in terms of c d four is continuing the upward curve of sales and supporting that while having a a lean and mean manufacturing operation to support that business. At the same time, it became very clear to me early on that we needed to address the cost base in the Alvar site. And the Alvar site is primarily where our global health business has historically been based. It was necessary to reduce the cost, having ramped up the capacity in relation to COVID, both in terms of footprint, but of personnel and equipment, and where where we see overlap in the cost base between Alva site and the Ely site to develop a plan to allow us to reduce the operating costs and consolidate onto a single site.

9:18 This will generate in excess of £2,000,000 a year of cost savings from where we sit today. In terms of COVID, we don't want to throw away all the hard work that's gone into developing our COVID products. We're relatively close to finalizing the accreditations that are required under both CDTA, and you will have recognized that we've recently announced the CE marking for our self test last month. However, the economics of that market have changed fundamentally from when it first opened up, And we're now seeing COVID tests that are being imported from China, which you can buy at a lower cost than than purely the raw material cost for us in the Alva site, let alone labor and overhead that you would need to add on to that. As a result, our COVID products are not competitive to be made in The UK, and we wish to seek to exploit the hard work we've put into developing those tests through moving to an outsourced model and taking the equivalent of a royalty or license fee on every test that's produced, which also has the ability to free up working capital for the business.

10:24 And finally, to align the interests of the board and the management team with those of the shareholders, we're moving away from what we've traditionally used as a as a share option scheme for a number of staff within the business, which can give anomalies as we've seen with the spike in the share price that was driven by the attention for COVID and move into something that is more geared to business performance, management performance over an extended period of time. So we're looking to implement a long term incentive program using equity,

10:57 but with targets that are driven by earnings per share and total shareholder return performance over typically a three year period rather than historically how we've incentivized the team. Okay, Jack.

11:15 As you know, we recently issued the circular to raise £7,000,000 to a combination of a placing of 5,000,000 and an open offer of up to 2,000,000. The 5,000,000 placing, we have a number of participants who have signed up to that. That is secure, subject to the general meeting that we're gonna have on the March 7. In fact, actually, that placing was somewhat oversubscribed, and we're moving now towards the general meeting a week on Monday. As part of this, the directors are all participating. We're putting in a combination of £85,000 between the four of us. So let's have a look at each division in turn, a brief canter through the overview of each division and its business and then its growth potential, that we're planning for. So for those who aren't aware, in terms of the health and nutrition business, which is largely focused on food sensitivity testing, we have a number of, platforms and technologies that we sell into the marketplace.

12:20 The first one is Food Detective. This is a near patient test or point of care test that can test for reactions, and these are IgG reactions to 59 common foods, and results can be given out in less than forty minutes. So suitable for clinics, pharmacies, and doctor's offices. The flagship of our product and the one that generates the most amount of revenue and profit is our footprint system. This is a laboratory based system that provides IgG results to over 200 foods, and they are used by over a 140 labs worldwide. It's a very innovative product with some really nice USPs that allows us to have a leadership position in laboratory testing for food sensitivity.

13:12 We also have a range of ELISAs. These are more basic laboratory tools designed to measure reactions to anywhere between five and ninety three foods. And here in The UK based in Ely in Cambridge, we actually have our own testing laboratory called CNSLab. That's the brand that it has that serves health care professionals both in The UK and in Ireland. Our customer base, as I said, are generally government hospitals, reference labs, but primarily nutritionists and naturopaths. Those health care professionals that are dealing with patients or health care consumers who have inflammatory conditions.

13:59 And the key thing here is to look at the improvement in gut health. And and gut health is one of the last areas in medicine that really is now being better understood in terms of its link and its impact on chronic conditions ranging from everything from autoimmune disease, diabetes, obesity, and even mental health. But it's important to recognize where we've come from this business having Omega acquiring it back in 2007. It's now a business that covers over 70 countries globally. Particularly in recent years, we've grown those revenues from just over 2,000,000 in revenue to just under 9.

14:43 It's cash generative. The margins are excellent. It generates a lot of EBITDA, which has been used in the group to fund development projects, and a lot of that EBITDA does convert into cash. But, nevertheless, it has significant opportunities for growth going forward, which we wish to exploit.

15:07 And those growth areas are in three main segments. The one is organic. Our organic business outside of China, outside of a couple of key markets has grown really well. It's recovered really well from the pandemic dip. It's grown 56 over prior year, and we aim to maintain our leadership position in this area and differentiate ourselves particularly to the competition through scientific and education and awareness. And that sets us apart from other labs and other technology providers in this space. We're building on that leadership position by employing a new digital platform that will help empower our customers, which are both the health care professionals and those patients in managing those diets and improving their gut health. And, obviously, we wish to do more marketing. This is a this is a consumer health care area,

16:08 and you marketing goes hand in hand with what you need to do to grow this business in this segment. In terms of geographic growth, we've always been working in a large number of countries. We're always entering new countries and new regions. China, for one, is an important focus for us. And for those who remember a couple of years ago, we established a relationship and then subsequent registration of our food detective product in China. That yielded some significant sales in prior years. I think with the impact of the pandemic and a slight lag in its adoption in China, potentially a bit of overstocking in the prior FY, We see that market going back to growth over the next couple of years.

17:00 And The US in particular is a very key market for us to grow into. We have a little bit of business there today in The US, but it's arguably the most health conscious and mature market that we wish to address with our offering.

17:15 And because we've got all these channels to market, serving health care professionals around the world who are dealing with gut health, we also wish to then add that menu of tests into those sales channels, the classic old sales technique of putting more goods in the same basket. And we wish to expand in microbiome and genomics, which will give our customers a much more comprehensive personalized nutrition for better health. If you focus on The US, first of all, the sense the food sensitivity market in The US is estimated to be the largest and most well established market in the world.

18:02 There are a number of players in there already that just offer lab testing services, but we think the best route to address that market is actually lift what we do today and do very well today and pop that into The US. The differentiation comes

18:20 against versus established players is with our approach around education, science, and the digital strategy, which will pull us apart from the competition. And, you know, our estimate of the the market in The US is about 50 to $100,000,000. And we think over the next couple of years, we have the potential to realize 3 to 6,000,000 at pretty good margins over the next couple of years. And the plan there really is three steps. Deploy our existing successful model, the CNSLab and go more direct, sell to health care professionals with our established brands and approaches well recognized around the world,

19:09 differentiate through our engagements and our science and education. And as what I said earlier on about foodprint, being a microarray, it can test for over 200 foods just from a couple of drops of blood from a finger, which is a massive improvement and a massive advantage over existing collection techniques, which is typically using a phlebotomist taking blood from an arm and then the complexity and the cost of sending that to the lab. Once we're set up in The US, that provides the perfect vehicle for then expanding the menu offering to that market that we're serving already. And the first step in that menu offering is microbiome testing.

19:59 This is looking at your gut flora in your gut. It's key and increasingly being linked to a range of inflammatory conditions that lead to the chronic symptoms that we see when we're testing for food sensitivity. There's a big demand for this. And if you couple that with the immunological assessment with IgG testing, gives a much more comprehensive profile to the health care professional.

20:30 And then there's our DNA. There are a large number of, DNA and genes, that impact the way we digest and process food. And mutations in those genes contribute to a variety of conditions such as food intolerances. The most obvious one, the most common one is lactose intolerance. And if you add your DNA, your microbiome, and our existing food sensitivity testing in one package all through one digital platform, we will be the first to market to offer a comprehensive personalized nutritional assessment to our health care professionals and to our patients and the health care consumer.

21:20 And to support this and to support this growth, we currently operate in a much smaller facility, but we are working with landlord in the final stages of building out and fitting out a 35,000 square foot state of the art space just a couple of miles down the road from where we are today in Ely, Cambridge, sir. This will provide us with greater environmental control and better quality products, but also more importantly, once it's compliant to our regulatory standards, gives us that foundation to grow and build more kits and expand our laboratory testing services.

22:06 So that's health and nutrition. Let's talk about global health now. And the flagship product for many years in global health, and it's been a long time in development when we took on the prototype from the Burnett Institute in Melbourne in Australia is our VisitorTech CD four test, a unique product in the marketplace, the only instrument free CD four testing product available to health care professionals. And this is really key for patients living with HIV, particularly those patients that live in inaccessible areas, especially in low and middle income countries. A very different business to our health care consumer division, which is our health and nutrition division.

22:54 This product is bought, acquired, and deployed by the likes of the Clinton Health Access Initiative or CHI, the WHO, UNITAID, and funding from PEPFAR, which is the president's emergency relief fund from The US.

23:18 And the main channels to market are are threefold. The first one is working with CHI and another organization called UNITIONAL. This is the advanced HIV disease initiative where, this has really been breaking ground over the last couple of years in providing the c d four tests to those countries, starting with seven of them in East Africa and now growing beyond that in Sub Saharan Africa, providing c d four testing to those patients that need it, in those countries. The second channel to market, is with MSF. They've been a very long term supporter of our c d four tests and did a lot of work in the early days, particularly the study in DLC, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.

24:08 They've just been starting off in six countries and are actively supporting deployment, and they aim to grow that number of countries out into the the markets that they serve.

24:22 And then more latterly, particularly with the PEPFAR endorsement and the funding that gives, the UN agencies listed below there together with the WHO prequalification are now setting up long term agreements and framework agreements with us to implement the c d four test into their operations in these countries at the same time. And in recent literally in recent months and the past year, we've grown massively in c d four sales, and that will continue to grow as the NGOs and aid agencies expand and deploy the test in more and more countries.

25:11 The test is performing really, really well in the marketplace. It provides a lot of clinical benefit when it's being used. To support that, we've established and launched a global learning center. So we have an online ability and and capability to train health care workers wherever they are, in the world. The product now is approved for use and sale in 24 countries, so that number is growing. And to match the demand, our production scale up is underway. However, as we've said in the circular, it's now the right time to potentially transfer c d four manufacturing out of Alvar to a new home.

25:57 And before we do that, that may or may not be easy. We want to undertake a strategic review as to what is the right thing to do around c d four so we can capture the potential and give it a home that allows it to be made at the right margin and at the right scale to meet the demand as you can see there going forward. I'll hand over to Chris now who will take you through the COVID strategy. Thank you. So in relation to COVID, we've we've we've issued a number of regulatory announcements confirming the status of all the necessary approvals that we've been going through. So you'll be aware that our professional test was CE marked last summer. Our self test was CE marked in February.

26:47 That was that was subject to the provision of some additional study data, which has to be provided by the March 31. But absent that, that award certification lasts for five years. In terms of the Department of Health, we have continued to supply information in relation to the CDTA regulations, the latest deadline of which was the February 10, and we've supplied all available information into DHSC at that particular point, and we're currently awaiting a response. What we are seeing now is a number of tests are being finally approved. It's been a very slow process in terms of getting tests through, not just for us, but for all participants in this particular market, but some are now coming through. In terms of The US, the professional test admission in The US is continuing, albeit that's being led by Mologic and not by Omega.

27:41 As As for for self test, we have been looking at feasibility studies. The likely cost of going into The US market is in excess of $2,000,000, and we're looking at a more funding funding partnership arrangement with a test user stroke manufacturer to potentially put fund that that registration rather than doing that ourselves. That's just beyond our funding capabilities at the current time. In terms of the commercial status, as we as Simon mentioned at the outset, the Department of Health contract expired. We had no test to manufacture, therefore, orders. And you'll be aware that we continue to be in dispute with the Department of Health over the £2,500,000 worth of preproduction funding that they provided to the business.

28:28 We don't believe, based on our legal advice, that we are likely to have to pay that back. In fact, actually, we believe we are are due some additional money from the Department of Health in terms of a termination payment at the end of the contract as a result of them failing to license the test and sublicense it to Omega for the manufactured product. But we do remain in active dialogue in terms of trying to resolve this dispute with the Department of Health, and I suspect that will continue for a number of months. As you're aware, there is some government funded equipment currently located on the site. That government funded equipment is clearly not ours by definition, and we have no intention to use it for COVID manufacturing.

29:16 And we are facilitating the sale or removal of that equipment on behalf of the government, potentially to manufacturing partners who would be making tests for Omega or alternatively to return the goods the equipment back to the Department of Health. We've continued to work with Lansdowne in terms of creating demand. When this first came about, we did not have a sales team focused on this particular market as our, you know, our health and nutrition business is fundamentally different in terms of our channel, and our c d four business is very much focused on international, non governmental organizations such as the WHO, Unitaid, Medicine Sao Frontieres, Jag has outlined. So we chose to partner with somebody who could potentially access that market for us.

30:06 They brought us DAM Health as a potential partner. Unfortunately, the DAM Health project has not created any volume as yet as a result of the CDTA regulations acting as a barrier in terms of supply in in the the short term. And as I mentioned before, the market has moved on. These tests are now available to buy, delivered from China at below our cost of raw materials, let alone our fully loaded cost, including labor and overhead. And as a consequence, we wish to move to a model which is more of a royal royalty and license type model where we can benefit and and monetize the work that's been done in developing the technology without having to fund the working capital and without having to take the manufacturing risk. And we're working with a number of potential manufacturing partners to create that capacity both in The UK and abroad so that we can leverage the hard work that's been done in terms of developing the sales opportunities to date.

31:14 In terms of the use of proceeds, so this is based upon an assumption that we would raise 7,000,000, the 5,000,000 from the placing, which we already have in hand, and the 2,000,000 from the open offer. Unfortunately, the 2,000,000 from the open offer is not something we can rely upon. It will be determined by how shareholders behave and wish to continue to invest in the business going forward. The broad buckets in terms of how we we intend to spend the proceeds, There are some costs, some cash costs associated with the exit of the Alva site, and I'll talk a little bit later on about the structure of the transaction with Alva. In terms of by leaving Alva, we have to move c d four.

31:59 We have the ability to continue to make c d four on the Alva site up until the December 31 this year, which allows sufficient time for us to transfer that test either into our new Ely site or to a third party. In order to do the transfer to our Ely site, which is the premise of the fundraise, we require 1,500,000 to invest in that particular product, and that comes into three broad areas. There's approximately 500,000 of capital expenditure to be incurred in Ely in order to be able to accommodate the c d four equipment in that particular site. There is a transfer team. So this is people we would employ in Ely who are gonna be the go forward management team for that particular product, who have to come up, learn the learn about the product, plan the transfer.

32:48 And in addition, we've also targeted some of these funds towards retaining the the people with the knowledge within the business to ensure this transfer would be successful. And finally, we've we've identified a £500,000 worth of spend to try and improve the product, to make it more stable, to improve the yield, and to look for cost efficiencies within the production environment. In terms of COVID, there's no no additional cost to transfer COVID to third parties on the basis that the third parties would actually fund that particular work themselves. On our health and nutrition business, we're looking to invest 1,100,000 in establishing The US. That's in terms of finding and and and kitting out a small lab, hiring staff, a general manager, a sales and marketing resource, and lab staff to perform the tests on the basis that we would be up and running in terms of generating sales from q one twenty twenty three.

33:50 And finally, on the on the health and nutrition side, in terms of nutrigenomics and microbiome, 400,000 is allocated towards that, which is covering hiring a couple of people, but more importantly, purchasing and developing the tests and the reports that we can then plug into our new digital app to consolidate the reporting alongside our existing food intolerance testing. And the balance would be working capital. As I say, that could be 3,200,000 if all of the funding is raised. It could be 1,200,000 if the open offer is not successful. And on this finally, on this point, we are not we've been very clear here. We are not raising money to pay back the Department of Health.

34:36 Those discussions are ongoing. We don't believe, as I said, we that we are obliged to repay the money. In fact, we think we're entitled to recover additional monies for the losses that we've incurred as a result of how the Department of Health have handled that particular contract. So we are not raising money to give it to the government. In terms of the Alva site, you touched on it. Obviously, it was it was set out in the circular. But that that site has lost nearly £5,000,000 in nine months and has essentially put the risk put the future of the group at risk. There's insufficient production volume going through the the site, little or no antigen testing. The COVID work that we've been doing has generally been short term subcontract for the likes of ShowScreen or reworking product on behalf of Ori and Gene as we saw in December.

35:31 And whilst our c d four product is growing significantly, it's still relatively subscale for the size of the manufacturing facility that we now have. The site has a 141 employees at the end of January. Of those 141, a 109 people are transferring across to Accubio who are the acquirer of that particular site. So significant reduction in in headcount. We're also dealing with inefficient shift patterns. The shift patterns were set up for volume manufacturing in light of COVID that clearly has not materialized. And we're going we've been going through a process recently to align that onto one shift and and reduce the amount of available hours and the amount of personnel. And there's a relatively high level of waste as we go through some of the production challenges in terms of getting our c d four product into a stable, predictable manufacturing process.

36:29 Associated with the site, there is a high level of fixed cost, particularly around the quality and regulatory activities that this industry requires. So whether our our costs don't really change in this regard, whether we're selling one test or a million tests out of the site, the regulatory burden remains broadly the same. The current lease has fourteen years left to run at a £187,000 a year. So that's £2,500,000 worth of future rentals that we've been able to avoid by assigning the lease to Acubayo. At the same time, we've been able to pass on the liability associated with dilapidations of somewhere between $406,100,000 pounds. And bear in mind, the site itself was originally 12 business 12 business departments or offices, if you like, in three buildings in a u shape.

37:25 So the obligation would have been to to move from what is now a consolidated site and to reinstate 12 individual units. The agreement with Accubio was signed on the February 10. There are a number of conditions associated with it, conditions around the Department of Business not actually reviewing the transaction and calling in on public interest grounds, the TUPE process for the staff who are moving across to Accubio, and confirmation that the lease is being assigned to the landlord and that the dilapidations costs are capped at a certain amount. We're selling fixed assets primarily, which are not required for our c d four production business. So we're keeping those, and we're selling assets with a net book value of 1,200,000 for a million pounds.

38:16 We're signing the lease. We're chipping the people across. And more importantly, we are continuing to we've negotiated a position whereby we can continue to manufacture c d four in that site until December. So we'll be running a site within a site, allowing us to continue to meet our customer demand and allowing for the orderly transition of that product into a new facility where we have to go through a validation process, site accreditation, etcetera, to be able to switch the production off in Alvar and on in a new site. As part of the agreement, we have an obligation to see that the government funded equipment is removed from the Alvar site within one month because the space is required for Origin.

39:04 You will see there's a two step process here in terms of the initial savings, which will materialize next month, and then a second set of savings, which we're estimating to come round about September, October time once c d four is actually physically moved out of the Alva site. And the current effect of that is somewhere around about in excess of £2,000,000 per annum. Thank you, Chris. So in summary, the key to our future success and future growth is to restructure the business. We need to focus on cost control and operation, you know, operational efficiency. Working across two sites, there was quite a bit of duplication, and and transferring everything to the one site would make that happen.

39:54 We need to review our strategic options for C D 4. However, prior to committing to the transfer, of c d four to Ely. And then, obviously, as Chris mentioned, outsourcing the COVID antigen manufacturing quite simply for us to be more competitive, in the marketplace. Central to the plan, is the jewel, you know, in in our in our portfolio, which is health and nutrition. Over the years, that's delivered the EBITDA and the cash to do what we've been doing, across the group, but it's had very little attention over that period of time. Nevertheless, it has grown, but I believe and I firmly believe it's got strong potential to grow further beyond what it's been doing today. And that's either through organic growth, utilizing and being drive driven by the digital platform.

40:48 Key to the growth is US expansion and then adding the microbiome and nutrigenomic menu additions to our existing basket of goods in those 70 countries worldwide. In terms of c d four, the momentum is building. The growth is there in terms of sales and, more importantly, demand from our key stakeholders across a larger number of countries. But it's still loss making in the current way that you're we're manufacturing it. So we do need to evaluate those strategic options, maybe revisit the selling price with our key stakeholders and look at volume commitments accordingly.

41:33 But if we can reshape and restructure the business, then we're much more fit and able to execute on that opportunity. And then in terms of COVID nineteen, there is still opportunity for that. They are contingent on registrations and approvals, CTDA, for example, being one of them. And remember, the self test CE mark is also still contingent on some getting some additional study data to satisfy the regulator. But to be more competitive, as Chris highlighted, we need to move to a subcontracted manufacturing model, potential licensing model that then allows us to address that opportunity much more effectively.

42:22 So that's a summary. I'll hand back to Simon, who'll make some closing remarks. Think first, we'll have some questions. That's great. Yes. If I may, Jack, Chris, Sam, thank you. Sorry, Simon, thank you very much indeed for updating investors this afternoon. Now obviously, you've got a considerable number of investors on today's call. And as you rightly highlighted at the beginning, Simon, there were a considerable number, unprecedented number, I think you used, of questions that were submitted ahead of the meeting. So apologies for frustration if it sounds like we're not addressing each and every one, but what the company have done is they've allocated these into certain themes. And perhaps if I may, I'll start off with the first theme, which was around the Alva site. And, Chris, maybe maybe one for you. Why has Alva been sold a mere 1,000,000 consideration considering how much cost has been spent on it to date?

43:16 Well, I I I guess there's maybe a preconception or a misconception as to the level of spend that's actually gone on into the site because the book value of the assets that we've disposed of was 1,200,000, and we sold those for a million pounds. And that's a a negotiation effectively between us and Origin. So I I don't I don't think that was a there was perhaps as much spent as people maybe thought. But fundamentally, the site was just not competitive. Couldn't see a way to make it competitive. That was pretty clear to me from very early on when I joined the business back in back in September. It had been expanded to cover COVID in terms of additional floor space, additional additional personnel, installing the government equipment, and and the volumes going through the the the factory were just insufficient to absorb the the cost of operating the facility.

44:15 Added to which, you know, the the the lease has a long way to run. It's very it's an expensive property to to continue to to occupy if it's underutilized. And really, what we saw was an overlap in in terms of functions where there was duplication between Alva and Ely, particularly on the sort of quality and the regulatory side of the business, and we feel we're able to share the costs of those between the two business units operating out of the same site. Some may say we've been slow to react in terms of addressing this particular cost base. We had plans in terms of dealing with headcount within the site back in November, which was when we first began our conversations with Orient Gene. And and really since November, Orient Gene have been underwriting an element of salary cost or personnel cost in order to retain the workforce on the site in anticipation of an acquisition by them of the facility and of the personnel.

45:21 And that has covered our costs in terms of some of the savings that we would otherwise have been making had we implemented a significant redundancy program at that particular point in time. And by significant, I'm talking roughly half of the personnel that would would have have been been operating on that site with effect from November. So it was there was an urgent need really to address address the site. It's time to work through the solution, particularly to make sure we found a home for c D four. We've developed our transfer plan to allow us to move the product into into our Ely site. As a reminder, in terms of the transaction, we've avoided significant redundancy costs. We've avoided significant dilapidation costs under the lease.

46:09 We've got out of a lease with fourteen years still to go at the thick end of £200,000 a year of rental. The next break clause was until 2029. So if we if we if we hadn't passed on the lease, we would continue to be paying that for the next seventy for the next seven years. And we've created the capacity for us to lower our cost while we're while we're operating our c d four production out of the site, we'll be occupying roughly one third of the footprint of the site and incurring a percentage of staff costs which varies by function so that we are not paying a 100% of the wages and salaries for personnel where we don't need to. And those costs will be split, as I say, department by department, individual by individual so that we continue to access the personnel that we need, but we don't necessarily have to meet a 100% of their salary costs.

47:04 That's great. Thank you. Simon, if I may, as you can imagine, there were a number of questions, a significant number of questions around the placing. And perhaps, if I could summarize, why should investors support this placing? Good It's question. And I think we've got to look at the two opportunities and then the two ways forward. Are where we are, we can't reverse the clock. We put together a plan which we think will change what is a heavy loss making company currently into a growth company move into profitability over the next few years. The key thing for us is that the plan has been built bottom up.

47:53 We understand, for instance, as Chris has explained, what it will take to move CD4 to Ely. It's not just a question of lifting everything up and move it to Ely. You have to reestablish production facilities. You have to run batches in parallel. You have to reregister, get regulatory approval. You know, it's it's not a it's not a trivial exercise. And the amount of money we put in is is what we believe that is that is required. And the same with the other other other numbers that Chris has broken down. We we don't believe that there is a huge amount of fat in this. We're not raising money just to stick it in the bank. And we we we will put all the funds into into good use.

48:41 Think the key thing is what happens if we don't raise the money? And that is a real challenging question. We would have to consider a lot of alternative courses to reduce losses, manage cash flow. That possibly could involve a very quick sale of CD four or even the closure. It could well be that we have to stay in the facilities in Ely rather than move into the new building, which means that the capacity crush that we have currently would remain, and that would hamper any any any growth. We have to limit our marketing and and basically the competitors could take advantage of that. So without it, in my view personally, we were kind of in a bit of a down downhill spiral.

49:35 So, you know, the amount of money we're raising, I think, is realistic. We we know that the share price is not where we would want it to be, and and we understand fully that the dilution is significant. But we really do believe that raising this money, investing into the company, we can move the dial forward and and and really start, I guess, recreating some shareholder value, which has been lost over the last twelve, fifteen months. Thank you, Simon. And maybe, Chris, if I could turn to you, and I think you guys did touch on this in the presentation about your personal participation. But can let us know how the board are participating in the displacing and indeed increasing their holding?

50:21 Yes. So as I as I said in one of the slides at the beginning, I think the the board are putting the four of us are putting £85,000 into this. This. In addition, Jeremy Millard already has over 500,000 shares that he bought personally some years ago. The other piece for me is actually moving to an incentive type arrangement under a long term incentive plan that that aligns our in our interest as managers with those of the shareholders, and that will be putting, you know, longer term sort of three year performance targets on focusing on earnings per share and total shareholder return. So we don't get a repeat of effectively a COVID spike that suddenly means options that were granted some time ago are worth significantly more without the business performance itself actually delivering.

51:08 And, Chris, if I may, just may maybe expand further. Obviously, your placing was one route to to raising additional funds. But can you explain what different avenues you looked at? Yeah. So, I mean, we we we've we've continued to have our overdraft facility, which is £2,000,000 as we've we've stated that. That has that has not yet been drawn, and we continue to operate with with cash in the bank. The overdraft, though, is effectively likely to be drawn, I think, in the next few months, would be my expectation, and is subject to renewal in June. Of course, an overdraft is repayable on demand and doesn't give me a certainty of funding going forward, particularly for a business that has been loss making to the extent that Omega has been or is for the current financial year.

51:55 Trade finance, those of you who were on a on the call in November when we talked about the interim results were aware that I've been looking at a trade finance scheme. That remains still available. The challenge to date has been that to access that or to collateralize that as far as Bank of Scotland are concerned, I would have to give up a proportion of my overdraft. That would create additional headroom, unfortunately, that facility isn't quite as flexible in terms of its what it's available to be used for as an existing bank overdraft would be. So, for example, I couldn't pay salaries using a trade finance facility, whereas I can with an overdraft facility. In addition, there are some fundamental changes going on within the business.

52:42 Originally, the sale of the Alva site changes significantly the potential in terms of raw material purchases, particularly as we exit manufacturing for antigen. And there are further changes potentially ahead depending on the outcome of our strategic review in relation to c d four. I would want to understand the level of impact on on debt facilities that would be available under this route based upon the business that we will have long term. If we're left with just a health and nutrition business going forward, which is a potential, The raw material component for health and nutrition is relatively modest. It's only around about £2,000,000 a year, and that probably doesn't create sufficient capacity in a trade finance line for you know, to to to to help us with funding.

53:31 Whereas when we had a broader business, potentially, you know, COVID, the working capital demands would be very, very heavy. I think we did the calculations that said we would need to raise another £8,000,000 just to fund the working capital if we were to sell our antigen tests out of the Alva site. So so so I don't whilst trade finance remains an option, it's one I'm hesitant to draw until I have clarity in terms of the ongoing structure of the business right now. And obviously, to the extent we can use debt, we will, provided it's short term debt and there is a route to repayment and all and I'm not drawing the overdraft just to just to prolong effectively an inevitable glide to go run out of cash. We elected to raise the 5,000,000 fully subscribed, oversubscribed to fund the strategic plan.

54:21 Investors were very keen to make sure we were well funded. We need to be able to fund the move of the c d four production line to Ely. Without that, we are forced down the route of sale or closure, as Simon has alluded to. So that was an important part. And I think it's fair to say as well, some of the placees remain nervous around the position with the Department of Health and the potential for us to have to repay some of the £2,500,000 that is currently in dispute. We're also in a position where we are waiting on additional funds from Abingdon. Who are also in dispute with the Department of Health. And I have around about £600,000 due, which is which was due over a year ago, in fact, in relation to supply of antibody tests as part of the the UKRTC.

55:12 In addition, the open offer is is uncertain in terms of the quantum that that will deliver. It could be anything between 0 and £2,000,000. I I guess we'll know pretty soon what the answer is in terms of that the quantum that that can raise. And therefore, we went for a a £5,000,000 secure placing to make sure we had adequate funding going forward. What I would point out is right now, those placees are contracted to put £5,000,000 in at 5p on the March 8. There's been suggestion that we could maybe take a lower raise. If we if we change the game now, there is no certainty that those placees will continue to put their their money in at those sort of levels. There's no guarantees over the price at which they will be prepared to put it in, particularly what where we're seeing volatility in the markets driven by the events in Ukraine in recent days.

56:08 And and to reject the placing at this particular point would take us down a path of uncertainty in terms of funding going forward. Clearly, our strong preference recommendation is that we take the placing as is where we have security of funding for the future. That's great. Thank you, Chris. Simon, if if I may turn to you, and and I guess the perception in the market perhaps was the board was lying about the need for funds. So can you perhaps expand on the reasons behind the timing and explain why the Board didn't lie about the needing of funds? Yes. I mean, we well, in my tenure over the last twelve months, we have never lied to the investors.

56:58 Look, everyone on this call doesn't know me personally. I've had thirty five years experience in big and small companies, and I've always worked with the highest level of integrity. So all of the statements we made were checked and were correct at the time of writing. I I know some of them that are being questioned. I mean, for instance, there was one which we said we had no immediate need of funds. And that's absolutely true because the point being made was that this was not an emergency fundraise. Over the last twelve, eighteen, twenty four months during the COVID period, there have been many stocks and have been many companies who have literally run out of money, and they are raising money, you know, literally and they didn't need it within a couple of weeks. Otherwise, they they're going under.

57:53 So, you know, the point we made was there was no immediate need. It wasn't a major panic, but we do believe that there's no point in sitting on our hands. We know where we are now. We know what we want to do. So let's go out and make it happen. So so that was, as far as we're we're concerned, a a a factually true statement. Other statements we made about the institutional investors about a potential play placing, that's absolutely true. We couldn't say more because the institutional placing wasn't confirmed. It wasn't agreed. It wasn't finalized. In the midst of all that, we had a leak, which we had to contend with.

58:39 And and on that subject, you know, again, I I know people are believing that the leak may have come from the board. It didn't. And we are very, very keen and welcome any investigation into this because it it helped no one. It was unjustifiable, and and it really is something that nobody needs to contend with. So, you know, again, we're absolutely determined to get to the bottom of that because that was just wrong. Even the timing of the funding itself, we knew we were building up a a a institutional placing of 5,000,000. We were building a book, but some of these investors who understood the the the finances in the same way that Chris has presented today We're very nervous about the fact that part of our cost savings was the sale of the Alpha site. And if we hadn't managed to sell it, we would be burning a lot of money on a monthly basis.

59:42 So we couldn't announce anything about the certainty of where we stood until the oversight was sold. So the agreement was agreed on February 10, and within twenty four hours, we announced it. That is the first time we could have announced it. And I know we've been accused of holding back information and not being open with the shareholders, but that's simply not true. Each each time we we we look at the announcements, you know, we know exactly what's going on, what we can announce, what we cannot announce, and what's going on in the background. And some things have to be held back a little bit because there's no certainty that's gonna happen. And on that, we don't want to misinform the market by putting out things that might happen or might not happen. That is something that is very guarded about under the AIM regulations that we act under.

1:00:39 That's great. Thank you, Simon. I guess turning and extending on to that, maybe you mentioned informing and communications, and there were a number of questions around communications. And really, how will the Board regain shareholder trust again, the talk of Board misleading and deceiving shareholders? I think basically, we have to deliver. We strongly reject any accusations of having misled shareholders. It's very linked to the previous question you asked. Our messaging to shareholders via the RNS process and social media has always reflected our view of the business at that point in time and the prospects we had at that point in time. We tried not to pump it up. We tried in fact, we've actually been accused sometimes of of of dampening it down. As an example, I think one of the questions that I saw scrolled through tonight, the the fifty to a hundred and or 374,000,000 value of the government contract didn't come from us.

1:01:43 We didn't know about that until it was on the website and the same and we saw it the same time as everyone else. And we put out a an RS saying it's up to. You know, these these are not numbers that we recognize. So we, in that case, you know, recognize something that was out there, which we didn't put out, and we actually did the right thing by going out and saying, that doesn't mean to say that's the size of the order. You know, it it is potentially up to one of those numbers, but they're not our numbers. So we try very hard to to do both things. It's share information on a positive basis, but also make sure that some of the numbers out there were were were commented on. Look, I think the challenge we've got as a company, and and we need to work on this, some things, when they happen, are price sensitive, so they go it immediately.

1:02:37 Clearly, things are on track, but there's nothing new to announce, get on with running the business. But I do appreciate that there's often rumors that then start filling in the gaps, and we do need to try to work and see what we can do about that in in in the future. But we are committed to increasing shareholder engagement. You know, we've listened to an awful lot of the feedback in the last three three months in in in particular. I'm personally not a great fan of of providing a running commentary to investors via Twitter, but I recognize that handled correctly, it it can add add add value. So, again, we need to we need to we need to look at that. I think the very fact we have a very significant retail group of shareholders, it is not possible to deal with individual questions.

1:03:30 We we have to basically treat every shareholder the same. So if somebody share one shareholder asks a question, then then basically, there are I don't know what our our total book is, but, you know, there are thousands of shareholders that need to be told. So we have to basically work in in a fairness way across the across the board with with with everyone. And and I think we we need to we need to work on that as a as a group. And we're also well aware that criticism has been leveled at Warbrook. Warbrook are our mouthpiece. The the frequency and the content of communications are triggered and are the responsibility of the board. They they are our conduit to allow us to get on with running the business, and and and we outsource the communications to to them.

1:04:20 That's great. Thank you, Simon. Of course, the company is compliant in terms of the AIM rules, and a number of questions were around that. And so, you know, has the company been compliant with AIM rules in terms of its listing? Yeah. Fully. We we've we've complied with AIM rules. You know, we've we've we've all been trained in in the Mars regulations. Our nomad keeps us straight on material information that's going out into marketplace. And and there are sounding boards, they give us lot of questions, they push back often, and they make sure basically that we have done nothing that would be misleading or false in the marketplace. That's our job. You. Jack, if I may just turn to you and I'll read the question straight as it come in. Is Omega committed to improve communications with shareholders in a proper and professional manner?

1:05:15 Absolutely. Yes. You know, I think I think we could learn from the past and improve communications going forward. I think as Simon said, you know, we need to be correct and compliant when we do communicate. We've come from a background of being largely institutional held. I think we need to learn on how to better communicate with our retail base. There are many of you out there, and there are platforms such as today that we want to exploit more often. I personally wish I could speak to every single shareholder, but I would do nothing else but do that. We recently communicated, for example, with the Omega shareholder action group in response to a a detailed list of questions. And and there will be opportunities such as general meetings that is coming up.

1:06:08 Now there are, I guess, less COVID restrictions that we can meet and greet and, you know, engage our shareholders. I mean, we have been you know, we've had to be very careful on social media. There's a lot of stuff that goes the other way and misrepresents what we're saying as well. I know one particular area that's been contentious is turning off replies on social media, for example. That's because we we just got some abusive comments on there. And, really, myself coming from a commercial background, those things could be read by customers and and would be damaging to our future commercial interests and our future growth plans, which I'm sure none of us, in terms of directors, employees, customers, and more importantly, would want to see.

1:07:02 Thank you very much indeed, Jack. Simon, if I may, a number of questions, quite considerable amount of questions through the live meeting today and also that were presubmitted around board pay, director share selling. What proactive steps will be taken, if any, to overcome shareholder concerns around these areas? It's a very good question, and I understand the frustration. Decisions to buy on Shell shares are very much a personal decision. Just because you work for a company or on the board of a company, you know, you're not obliged to make make those purchases. So it's very much a personal thing. And providing we're not in a closed period, the the that individual can make can make those choices.

1:07:51 You know, at the end of the day, everyone has their own families, their own personal situations, and they have their own preferences when it comes to how they handle their personal finances. You know, I'll be very blunt. I can't really influence that. You know, clearly, I understand completely why everyone would like everyone to be aligned, but people have their own personal first finances are are handled in their own way, and people take their their their own advice. So, bluntly, I know I I I I would struggle to be able to influence that in in a in a proactive in a proactive way. Now in terms of remuneration of board, we we regularly take external advice. We regularly benchmark our salaries against the industry norms.

1:08:44 We clearly need to make sure our salaries are competitive. You know, we need to attract the right talent at all all levels, not just the board levels, but all underneath. And, you know, bearing in mind that we're a name listed company, you know, I don't believe that we ever pay any any of our any of our directors. And we will continue to to take that benchmarking, and we will continue to make sure that that that we that we do align ourselves with with with other companies. I think Chris has already mentioned a a a new what's called an LTIP option program, which is very different to the one that exists now. And this particular structure is going to align the performance targets with shareholders and the rewards will be aligned with shareholder gain as well.

1:09:38 Just to answer one of the questions I know that we scrolled through, as yet, we haven't set. It's not in place yet. It's still being set up by the lawyers. So as yet, we don't have numbers that that we can we can we can talk about. And and can I just go back to the the question before? I'm sorry to jump around. Even tonight, we have had some fairly disgusting language appear on some of the some of the questions. And I and I understand fully that we we there are folks very annoyed shareholders and very angry, but I just think some of the personal abuse has been directed at the board, including, to me in particular, phone calls threatening physical violence, and and that can't be tolerated. That really cannot be tolerated.

1:10:31 So there are times that we might end up turning off communication because, you know, if it starts becoming that aggressive, then then we then we have to basically take some action. So, you know, I I think I I would just ask 99% people are cordial, and that's fine. But as I say, even tonight, there's been some very disgusting language come come through on on one or two of the questions, and that's just not right. No problem. And, Simon, that has been noted, and there will be follow-up from us with those individuals as well. If I may just turn on to to the next topic. We've got about three more to to run through. I'm mindful that we're way through the time, but I know you're very intent on making sure that these areas get cleared up.

1:11:19 In the event the board doesn't get approval of the resolutions and additional funding, you must have a plan b. What is it, and can it involve less dilution if additional funding is required? Maybe that one's for you, Chris. The fundraising is not successful. We will have to take some strategic action to manage our cash flow and to reduce the ongoing costs and losses of the group. It's not something we we wish to do, mainly because it's likely to destroy longer term shareholder value. So for example, you know, if if we don't have sufficient funds to enable us to relocate our c d four business, our options become limited to a sale or a closure. If if we don't have the funds, there will be a finite amount of of time in which we can continue to fund that c d four business while we were looking for a buyer because it's still a loss making business.

1:12:13 And that will either curtail the operations or reduce the value at which we're able to sell it potentially to zero. Now that's not something we want to do, clearly. We have a product. It's in the market. It's growing in the market. It meets it meets a need. You know? But if we end up in a position where we cannot afford to keep it, our options become become very, very limited indeed. And I I don't believe that is in the long term interest of of any shareholder. As I said before, there's no guarantee that the placing will come in at at a different level should should we not be successful on the March 7. So there is a we would introduce a significant level of risk around funding. We would have to seek alternative sources of funding through through primarily debt and potentially some slightly more complex instruments, which we have rejected today from typically American investors who are who are seeking seeking a value opportunity.

1:13:15 There are some strings attached with those that I would countenance against entertaining. But we would you know, if if we have to entertain them, then clearly, that's what we'd have to do. In terms of the the debt funding, like I said before, there is an overdraft facility. I don't intend to draw the overdraft unless I've got a route out of it because all that all that does is kick the can down the road. And and that's not what we should be doing as a business. We need to have a plan to sustainability. The funding is a key part of that, I'm afraid. And without that, then life gets very difficult pretty quickly. Thank you, Chris. Sorry. I was gonna say in in addition, I guess, it would as well as dealing with c d four, it would make it quite difficult for us to take on the new facility in in Ely. There's a significant lease commitment that is in the plan.

1:14:11 That facility is required to enable our health and nutrition business to grow. So to the extent that we don't have funds sufficient to allow us to sign that new lease, we would become capacity constrained out of our existing site quite quickly, and any growth in that business would be much slower than otherwise we would we would anticipate. And clearly, we wouldn't be able to add some of the other growth opportunities around The US investments in microbiome, nutrigenomics as well. That's great. Thank you. Jag, if I may turn to you around c d four really, is c d four moving in the right direction? And really summarize, I have to say, this is from one of the questions. The lack of information since the share price crash has left me with shocking losses and now the five p offer.

1:15:00 Why should I invest more without substantial evidence that you have the capability to add significant value in the next twelve months? Yeah. That's a that's a really good question. And, you know, c d four is a is a key product for us. We've been working on it for quite some time. I mean, terms of demand, there's a couple of other questions on the the scrolling line around them. In the last f y, we sold about 38,000 units. That's right. This year, we're probably gonna be on track for selling about 400,000 units. And in the next FY, we're forecasting a million units and then 1,600,000 afterwards. And these forecasts for future business come directly from the likes of CHI and UNICEF, etcetera. So they're the ones that give us those forecasts for their deployment and implementation in the countries where CD four is being deployed.

1:15:55 Market adoption is driving that. It's now available in 21 countries. That's up 15 countries since July of last year. And recently, in November and and even a month ago, PEPFAR, the the funding agency, quoted directly in its guidance, the VIZASTECT c d four test to be procured for NGOs that are managing and putting in implementation plans for patients living with HIV. I mean, that said, you know, as Chris said, you know, we we are strategic strategically reviewing c d four prior to committing to move it. There's a cost to moving it. There's a risk to moving it.

1:16:41 And are there better options out there before we press that button? As Chris said, there's about 1,500,000 of transfer costs, including CapEx, to drive that transfer. Is there something better out there, either a subcontracted model or, you know, a better home for it to, you know, drive the the adoption of that test going on. There's also an option to potentially renegotiate terms with the the purchasers of the test. You know, that that could possibly fundamentally change the economics of the product that allows us to invest and drive that forward as well. That's great. Thank you very much indeed, Jack.

1:17:27 If I may, Chris, turn to you and issues relating really to the relationship and the involvement with the government. If I may just read the whole question in full. Instead of fighting with .gov, why have you not agreed a way forward with them to retain the equipment and facility in preparedness for the future? The government wanted this set up originally, and I expect there could have been a deal done to mothball it should it be needed in the future. The dot gov do this with critical facilities all the time. Why just cut and run losing everything? It doesn't seem a wise move, again, unless we're not being told the whole picture. Well, I I think you are being told the whole picture. Fundamentally, we can't make money out of COVID in ALVA. Even if we had a test that was fully approved and accredited for The UK market, the cost of manufacture are significantly below the costs of importation from China, and the cost of the facility and the cash drain of the facility on an ongoing basis is just unsustainable.

1:18:25 The the the two are intrinsically linked. You know, the government are clear that we're not gonna get any volume from them, so we're reliant upon the commercial market, and and we can't meet the price point in terms of manufacturing. So and worse than that, by the way, they're not only asking for they're asking for their money back, you know, in terms of of things that we have legitimately spent on the types of costs that they've requested we spend it on to build that capacity. So I have no reason to believe that that we are that they would support in in any funding sort of way the the continuation of unutilized capacity in The UK. That would be contradictory to all of the behavior because we've seen in terms of government procurement for lateral flow tests where the vast majority have been coming in from China. So I just don't see that that is a a viable option at all.

1:19:15 And if we can't make money out of it, then we have to move on and invest in areas where we think we can. That's great. Thank you very much indeed, Chris. Look, I'm very mindful of time. You you've you've given us twenty minutes past the the hour. And also thank you to all those investors who submitted questions, all of which will be made available to the company, and we'll do our best to get those published back out to you as soon as you can. But please do bear in mind the significant number of attendance on today's call. Simon, if I may, I know investor feedback is important, and I will shortly redirect all the investors on the call to give you their thoughts and expectations. But before doing so, wondered if I could just ask you for a few closing comments. Well, thank you. And look, thanks, everyone, staying with us for this.

1:20:06 Look, at the end of the day, this is not a position that any of us would have wanted to be in twelve months ago or anticipated we would be in. But we have to deal in reality. Without this level of investment that we're we're seeking, we would be in a position as as Chris has explained of cutting things back. And in my view, building half a bridge to nowhere to struggle to grow the company any further. And and bluntly, it's a competitive market. Our competitors would take advantage of of of our current position. You know, I firmly believe that repositioning the company adequately financed and together with the team around me is the best way to create future value for our shareholders. I think we'll be losing a lot of value if if we didn't close the if we didn't close the round, and and we would really struggle to to grow in in the foreseeable foreseeable future.

1:21:02 I personally have managed two company turnarounds before, and, you know, they have always involved a a of investment to to kick start them again. As I say, it's not where we wanted to be. It's where we are, and we have to demonstrate that we have the leadership ability to deliver successful company going forward. But at the end of the day, you know, I urge the shareholders to to vote for the plan. It's it's in their hands. The entire board firmly believe this is the best way forward. We spent a lot of time putting the plans together, a lot of us understanding the risks and and getting the balance right. We have considerable experience be behind us.

1:21:47 And the alternatives, as I say, I think will be will be very negative and and could be quite damaging. But at the end of the day, the choice is with everyone that's been listening to this call and the and the remainder of our shareholder base. So, look, thank you for your time today. I I do really appreciate everyone listening to it. We we need to gain regain your trust. I believe we can do. We we just need to move to get past the the next step. So thank you, and, you know, everyone take care. That's great. Simon, Chris and Jack, thank you so much for your time and for updating investors this afternoon. Can I please ask investors not to close this session as we'll now automatically redirect you for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order that the company will better understand your views and expectations?

1:22:38 This only take a few moments to complete, but I'm sure will be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team of Omega Diagnostics Group PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation, and I wish you all a very good evening.