Gelion (LSE:GELN) — Interim Results to the 31st Dec 2021

0:01 Good morning, and welcome to the GELN PLC interim results investor presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged and could be submitted anytime by the q and a tab situated in the right hand corner of your screen. Just click q and a, scroll to the bottom, type your question, and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question received during the meeting itself. However, the company review all questions submitted today and publish responses where it's appropriate to do so. Before we begin, we'd like to submit the following poll. I'd now like to hand you over to Hannah McCarthy, CEO, Amit Gupta, CFO, and doctor Steve Marn, nonexecutive

0:33 chairman. Good morning. Good morning, and thank you for that introduction. Good morning to our UK investors, good evening to those joining us from Australia. Welcome to GELN PLC's inaugural interim results for the period ending 12/31/2021. I'm Steve Marn, non exec chairman. Joined this morning in our presentations by Amit Gupta, our CFO, and by Hannah Makaki, who is our new CEO and who I will introduce a little more fully later. Today's materials will all be available on the investor relations portal on our website, so you can find it there later on today. Now before we get into the meat of the presentation where which I'll hand to Hannah to to lead, I want to say a few words about the team and the market context that we find ourselves in. You'll hear today about the dynamic changes that are occurring in the energy market, not only dramatic changes in energy prices, and that's something we will see day to day in the press, but the geo geopolitical shift in the supply of of energy and commodities.

1:45 Decarbonization has always been a major driver in in the energy market, but security supply suddenly become every bit as important. And all of these changes, which I think are gonna be enduring changes, are positive for the whole storage market, but particularly for GELION.

2:03 Since the IPO well, the IPO marked really the start of a transition for our business. A transition that took us from a highly differentiated, attractive technology business to create a valuable commercial business. And in the short time since our IPO, where our profile has risen, we've seen an acceleration in demand. Our customers are wanting our products in their hands sooner. So we've taken the decision that we need to accelerate our plans to be a global and commercially led business transitioning more quickly from our r and d roots. And that transition, the caliber and experience of the leadership is critical. As all of you know who've invested in in high-tech companies and growth companies, the management team is critical to the success of the business. So so the board unanimously have acted decisively, and we've looked to build a broad new management team to allow us to accelerate the latest transition to be to be commercial.

3:05 So we've added in disciplines from manufacturing,

3:08 sales, and operations, and in in the the leadership, leadership, all of which is to drive the commercial growth and to drive shareholder value. And I'm really pleased today to be able to introduce and welcome Hannah MacKacky as our new CEO to lead the business. Hannah, we're we're an Anglo Australian business by nature, and and and Hannah has represents that. She spent fourteen years in The UK and is is now based in Sydney in Australia. She was seven years at Centrica in The UK where where she was part of the team that launched a Hive Home service, which now has 2,000,000 global customers. That's a service which many in The UK will be familiar with. More recently, Hannah was an executive in the APA Group, which is a large energy infrastructure group in Australia with £12,000,000,000 of assets where she was responsible for all of the battery and microgrid and hydrogen projects.

4:03 So Hannah brings to us

4:06 deep and energy experience, is directly relevant to GELION's business plans. And so delighted to have Hannah on board, and I'd like to hand over to Hannah now to to walk us through the presentation. Steve, thank you for that kind introduction. I couldn't say how excited I am to be here. I really feel like I'm in the right place at the right time with a great company, with a great strategy, and as Steve said, a great team of people. So I've joined recently, but I've also been joined by Simon Mott, who's a very experienced energy sector executive. Simon was VP of Schneider Power Systems in Asia Pacific and brings with him a whole host of deep knowledge around the energy sector, and it's delightful to be working with Simon.

5:05 Equally, we've had Nick Bach join us as engineering director. Nick Bach had worked at Rez, which would be familiar to many of The UK investors, and he has deep sector knowledge specifically around storage and work for an energy startup called Equalte. And thrilled to have him on board because, you know, we are providing power, and it's really great to have his deep expertise. Equally, it's great to be work working alongside Amish. He's here today, almost an old hand, and and and Stuart as well. So a a really strong team to capitalize on the opportunities, which we'll talk about further in this presentation. Steve, I'll just hand back to you for the slide on this section. Yeah. So this is a recap really of what we presented in the admission document and the IPO, which is, you know, what are the fundamental assets in in GELNON's business? And we have a suite of battery chemistry technologies.

6:06 One is the zinc bromide technology, which is the long duration market, and then we have a suite of additives which go into the lithium market, which is a more shorter term transportation market. And the zinc bromide has features which are coming more into their own. It is a very long life safe battery based on materials which are in abundant supply and widely distributed around the planet, which is unlike many of the issues for other chemistries. And it's a inherently safe and robust technology. We'll talk a little more in this presentation around how we see the market for that and how we look to go to market for that. But it's great to have diversification of technology because that gives us diversification of routes to market and, ultimately, to to customers.

6:53 And the additives business is really targeting the lithium ion business and the advanced lithium business where we are able to significantly increase charging times, charging rates, and and power density of the batteries. So we have great diversification here, and both technologies look to leverage off incumbent infrastructure. So we don't have to build huge greenfield battery solutions on manufacturing plants. We can work with partners to get us into that marketplace. And, really, that's the theme of today's presentation is going to be how is the market changing? How is it coming to July? And then what is July going to be doing to try and get into the market more quickly and deliver shareholder value? So Hannah, perhaps I'll hand back to you now to walk through the the bulk of the presentation.

7:48 You're on mute still, Hannah. It's yeah. Thank you. I think at the co at the end of COVID, I would have learned that, but I'll I'll I'm still learning. Anyway, thank you, Steve, for giving us such a great in introduction. And just just to build on what Steve has said about our strategy. I mean, you know, we are a company with breakthrough technology in some of the most important sectors in the whole energy transition, which is around energy storage. And our strategy has two important legs, the stationary energy storage, and we are looking to build partnerships around bringing this new technology to life. Because we have the smarts, we have an incredible set of IP, we have some breakthrough technology, but really what is at the heart of our strategy is bringing this product quickly to market given the amount of demand.

8:47 And so as Steve said, we have this capital light approach where we don't have to build greenfield factories. We can partner with different partners in global markets and therefore bring our product to market more quickly. The second leg is around these lithium ion additives. And I think it's it's really great is that we're not just competing with lithium in the stationary storage. We're actually part of making lithium more effective. So it's that diversity of strategy and it's the diversity of business models that I think gives GELION two strong areas to grow in, both based off the same teams that feed off each other in terms of, you know, bringing this new technology from, you know, all the smarts into real life products that customers really want. And we hear that constantly, even my short time in the business.

9:46 And really, you know, at its heart, GELION really has a global outlook. As Steve said, you know, we're born in Australia, coming of age in The UK, but we have a number of global partnerships already in place, one in India and, you know, others in The UK. But we're actively looking at several markets, which we'll talk about later today. But it it really is that global outlook, and and I I see that actually in our team where we have, you know, over 15 different nationalities represented in our team because of the excitement that there is around the global breakthrough and strategy

10:27 that we can do, and we're a global company doing something really different. So we're global in our outlook in terms of our strategy, also in our people, and it's great to have a strong foot in The UK and in Australia, are both important storage markets. So, again, just, you know, focusing on market outlook because there really has been some reasonably dramatic developments even since we we IPO ed. We knew that storage was a strong market then, but, you know, the amount of things that have happened since IPO really give us cause to believe that we are in the right place at the right time. You know, stationary energy is forecast to grow 25% compound growth year on year.

11:17 And EV, speaking to our lithium additive side, has grown by 50% year on year since 2014 and is about to overtake spend on renewables. So these twin themes of stationary energy and mobile energy are really where GELION's technology plays so strongly. So we are deeply aligned with the market conditions.

11:46 And what we're gonna just do today is to take you through some of them just so you really take home, you know, how exciting it is for GELLINE to be in this sector. So, you know, the last six months in Europe, I probably don't need to tell a lot of people on this call, have been, you know, very dramatic for for Europe. Towards the end of twenty twenty one, there were, you know, energy price shocks across Europe due to really the the marginal plant cost of running gas fired power to keep homes warm and and businesses going when there was a shortage of gas. And that has now only been compounded by the Ukraine crisis and the very immediate and strong statements by senior EU officials about the need to be independent of Russian energy.

12:42 So this this theme of both price shocks and energy security means that we are seeing an acceleration of the growth of the energy storage market. And just to give one example of this on the slide around the EU renewables aspirations, they were already high around about 900 gigawatts. And now they've added another 80 gigawatts, which is just really, really a very sizable amount, and they want to bring 20% of that front loaded.

13:18 And these are all announcements since we've gone to IPO. And you can't bring on that much renewables without more storage because it will destabilize the grid, and you can only build out the grid so fast. So having this energy storage is going to be such a critical part of the EU addressing these twin concerns of both energy price shocks and energy independence. The other example, which I'll just walk you through on the next slide, which is also illustrative, this is the EU already had ambitious hydrogen targets, some of the biggest in the world. This was the prior target in at the end of two thousand and twenty one.

14:09 And then since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this is the new target. It's quadrupled. Why is that relevant for energy storage? Again, it goes back to if you're bringing on this much renewables, you will need energy storage to stabilize the grid. And many hydrogen developers are talking about the importance of batteries to maintain high load factors on the electrolyzer, which is ultimately what brings down the cost of being able to produce green hydrogen cheaply and meet these ambitious targets which serve those desires for independence from Russian gas. Europe's been a dramatic place, but actually around the world, there are several things that have been happening around storage that are very notable. In The UK, the recent capacity market,

15:08 one gigawatt was allocated to storage projects, including long term storage, which is a new record. The US, the California has announced very recently a desire to bring on 15 gigawatts of storage by 2032 and have allocated large sums of money to delivering that, much of which, again, goes to long term storage, which our stationary energy plays to. And right here in Australia, we're getting a bit nervous about the lights going out because they're shutting coal fired power stations much faster than forecast. And for every utility that is announcing this, they are bringing on new forms of green energy to replace that, and batteries are a very large part of that. So in all those major markets I took you through in the earlier slides, there are really these are not just targets. We're seeing actual deployments of energy storage at a very fast rate and hence

16:12 the demand we're experiencing from so many customers in the market for our product. And I think this is a theme again. I'm sure you all read the papers and and see this, but it's it's a really good chart to to bring it home. That that compound rate of mobile storage, so the the huge demand for lithium ion in the mobile storage market means there's, you know, there's real competition going on between various,

16:43 you know, motor companies to to get its hands on lithium, and it's causing price spikes. And it's not just lithium, it's cobalt, nickel, which are critical ingredients to building the most common form of EV lithium batteries. And down the bottom there in that very flat line, that's zinc. And that's what makes us feel very confident about our technology. It's very abundant. Our zinc bromide technology uses one of the most abundant and cheap minerals that are around for building batteries. And we just believe that, you know, there's gonna be need to be a diversity of sources for battery storage, and zinc bromide offers a very important diversity. Equally, our additives really become more attractive when these metal prices go up because, obviously, people want to make the batteries higher in density

17:38 and and cheaper, and so that creates demand for our additives. So so both of these trends, the the very small movement in zinc prices and the higher increases in lithium, cobalt, nickel means that both of our technologies are, you know, are poised in a in a very good position. So overall, the themes I've walked you through is renewable storage is growing significantly year on year. The EV supply chains are under pressure.

18:16 The demand for storage diversity is clear. And the rising costs of oil and gas, you know, are very clearly being discussed as a daily matter. And and we think these this this this Ukraine crisis, it's not just something that's going to happen in this couple of months, and we'll see a change towards the end of the year. They these are fundamental shifts around the global energy storage market that we will continue to see. And really, I think the other thing, apart from we've talked about the benefits that we have from a metals perspective, one of the things we're very proud of and we think is very important about our zinc bromide battery is it's the zinc bromide material acts as a fire retardant.

19:06 So it's very safe. It can operate very safely in high temperatures. And there are growing concerns around the flammability of lithium storage and and a number of those incidents, which makes developers very interested in our technology, particularly if they're going to have large batteries around hydrogen, which is highly flammable, and there are concerns around that. So I think, you know, it really just goes to serve the point of being in such a good place. So just a few more of our real advantages. Because we our zinc bromide battery can operate at 50 degrees without an air conditioner, It makes it easier to build and means that it can operate in hot places without air conditioning, which, again, makes it very attractive for off grid markets. But even hot places like Australia, they often get to 50 degrees. So lithium is a concern for developers.

20:08 I think something that we are seeing that

20:10 is of increasing interest is the duration of our batteries. And that is is that it can last from four to twenty four hours. And, you know, that is very important if you have a a day that is not sunny and not windy windy that, you know, our type of storage can really carry the market through these sustained periods where the intermittency of renewables does, you know, poise an issue to security. So our storage is particularly attractive in that long duration market. And then finally, we we really do like and like to to reemphasize this feature of we can reuse existing infrastructure. Lead acid manufacturers are really looking for new ways to diversify into new markets, and our zinc bromide battery does poised a very attractive way for them to have new revenue streams.

21:09 So just in sum, we have the funds to execute our strategy in a favorable market. We have a new team that to pursue these commercial opportunities, and we're very focused on moving from exciting technology into commercial commercialization. We have our, you know, our current developments are are going well, which I'll I'll touch on in the next section. And, you know, our our lithium silicon additives are also progressing well.

21:41 So I think then just, you know, we've been talking about our path to commercialization. And and really the message here is, you know, we had this incredible team that got us to IPO, and, you know, we proved that we can achieve a lot in a short period of time. Most of those people are still with the business and still incredibly fired up about bringing their dreams to a reality. But but now we're looking forward, and we're looking forward to the future. We're looking forward to capitalizing on these opportunities, and we're very excited about the prospects ahead. And and the real focus we have is, you know, bringing this commercialization to life, meeting the customer demand, producing our batteries at scale, and getting them in their hands so that they're not just talking about all the benefits. They're seeing it in in real life.

22:34 That's really, you know, where our focus is and we'd be really focused on on market segmentation and, you know, how do we, you know, deliver best value for our customers. But we're very excited as we look forward to to how we can achieve these and we will be adapting as necessary to to capitalize on the new opportunities that we've talked about so much today.

22:58 So now that that really brings to the close of my section, and I'll hand over to Amit. Thank you, Hannah. Good morning to all our investors in The UK, and good evening to the investors in Australia. It's a very exciting time for us at GELN, as we are now ready to take advantage, capitalize on the opportunities that Hannah and Steve just summarized. Today, I'm just going to present some key financial themes for the six months period in the 12/31/2021. On the panel side of things, I'm very pleased to report that the first half results are in line with our plan, so no real surprises there. One thing to note was the non is the nonrecurring items. So as you can expect, when a company undertakes a capital raising,

23:44 they have to incur a lot of one off or nonrecurring expenses. We did the same. So the total nonrecurring expenses recognized in the panel was £4,500,000 of which $700 was IPO cost, so listed listing cost. And the remainder 3.8 was noncash,

24:02 excellent investing of share options. So share based payments, was accelerated because we listed. So it's it's noncash noncash in nature and had to be accounted as a as an expense. Operating expenses almost doubled when compared to prior year, but, again, this also reflects getting the company ready to be a listed business with with the new board and listing requirements to be followed. On the balance sheet, adding couple of very, very key themes. There's not yet on the balance sheet and a significant amount of cash that we raised from the pre IPO and the IPO funds. So we are ready to kind of accelerate our commercialization plans.

24:46 On the cash flow, I think it's the repeat of the message that we the cash is allowing company not just to accelerate the execution of this commercialization strategy, but also to capitalize on the additional opportunities that Hannah and Steve just summarized. So we are ready. We are looking we are live, in terms of opportunities coming to us, and we'll keep the market updated as it meant that they are actually realized. So I think that's it from my side. Back to you, Hannah, for the closing remarks. Thank you. Thanks, Hannah. So I think showing our high performing team status, we've we've kept within time. So we we just want you, you know, to take away a few core messages.

25:37 We really do have a great team in place to capitalize upon the new opportunities that are coming in this very exciting market. The energy market is, you know, really accelerating in terms of its adoption and its hunger for new types of storage, different types of storage, safe storage, and that's what the GELION technology provides.

26:05 And, you know, we really are well, you know, to deliver on our existing strategy, but we will really remain agile. And, you know, we're very across these opportunities and are having, you know, frequent discussions with developers and many different types of partners about really how we can bring this this commercialization to life and really be part of the energy transition, you know, well before 2030. And we're a technology that's going to deliver in the timeframes that these developers and markets are looking for. That's just a really exciting place to be. So with that, I will hand back to the presenter. I'm sure there'll be some Q and A.

26:51 Absolutely, Hannah. Thank you very much indeed, Steve, Amit as well. Thank you for your presentation. Ladies and gentlemen, do please continue to submit your questions just using this Q and A tab situated in the right hand corner of your screen. But just wanted to company take a few moments to review those questions submitted already. I'd like to remind you the recording of the presentation along with a copy of slides and the published q and a can be accessed via your investor dashboard. Just before we go into the q and a that we've received during the meeting, we did receive a number of presubmitted questions from investors, and perhaps I can start the session off with those. The first one reads as follows, and I know it popped up in the live session as well. Can you please explain the change in leadership from Andrew Grimes to Hannah McKerkey? Yeah. I'll I'll take that one. So well, firstly, I'd like to start by thanking Andrew. Actually, Andrew took the company through the whole IPO process and built platform to enable us to be well capitalized to then take the business forwards.

27:45 But then we've mentioned this theme again and again today about accelerating our path to commercialization. There are lots and lots of interesting technology companies out there, but we don't wanna be an interesting technology company. We wanna be a successful commercial battery company. And so making that transition involves us having supply chain partnerships and customers and, you know, warranty protection and so on. And that that was a transition that Andrew didn't feel he was well placed to make and but he worked really cooperatively with me to make a transition to a new management team. And I think that says a lot about his his commitment as a shareholder to the business and also his professionalism. So, really, that was the transition we're making. It's a transition that not everyone is well suited to make, and I think Andrew was mature enough to to work with me on that.

28:37 So on that respect, that that's really what's behind it all. And I think for us, we're delighted that we have the team in place, and we haven't finished yet. You know, we'll be bringing in further people on the sales and business development side to help broaden our global reach. Reach. So so, really, probably, that's all I need to say about that question. Fantastic. Thank you, Steve. Another follow on question. You have covered this off, I think, Sam well, some of it in the presentation itself. With the recent departure of Andrew as CEO, what will be the main change of focus for July and under the new leadership? Well, the chain yeah. And I think it it it reinforces this message again. I think what we're doing now and it it is one of the questions that came up on on the platform this morning was change in our technology. We, you know, we're still as committed and our assets are still the same and the benefits are still the same. All we're looking to do now is say, how do we get to market more quickly?

29:34 And and really because getting to market involves having a manufacture not only customers, but manufacturing partners, system integrators, operational maintenance partners, involves the whole suite to putting the value chain together. And, really, that's where the focus is now. It's okay. We now believe know we have great technologies. Technologies. How do we get a great product, and how do we have great customers who validate that product? That will differentiate us from others in the market. So we now become, with this new team, a very commercially oriented business seeking to get our technology into product and into the market. So no change in in fundamentals of the business, but just a change in emphasis that we need now to put the right team and the right resources in place to get us into the market quicker.

30:25 Sweet. Thank you very much indeed. Next question we have here is when do we hear from the outcome from the battery testing in Spain? What is the timeline for the revenue from battery sales? Well, I don't wanna speculate on sales. We we've given indications in the original admission documents. So I think for now, let's leave that as our public statement on that. The partnership with ASEONA was a competitive process, and we were delighted to make the announcement that we were working with them. Still on track on the timetable that we announced back in February. So I think for us, the the real benefit there was a demonstration of the validity of our technology, and part of our plan will be working with global leading companies like Asiana who potentially could buy huge quantities of batteries based on our technology.

31:22 And very much over the next period, we're looking at bringing on other partners who can help really validate the market potential of our technology. Thanks, Steve. Endura appears that a significant competitive advantage for big batteries around Australia when combined with solar projects for general supply, but also for remote mining projects. However, there seems to be a little movement regarding MOU sales or JVs with regard to battery supply. What is the delaying the growth in sales? Well, perhaps we can do a double act on this one, Hannah, but I think I'm not sure there's a delay. I think we're only three three months post IPO.

32:07 We're looking at building, you know, long term, materially valuable and significant partnerships, which don't happen overnight. So I think on that respect, I'll just ask a little patience because at this point, we weren't expecting to have signed any of these agreements or made any announcements. What I would say is all of the partnerships that we have spoken about at preadmission and postadmission are still live, actively progressing, and we're optimistic about where they'll go. And we'll make announcements in due course as to when they're finalized. What we don't really wanna do is we we're in the business of announcing things once they're done. We don't really wanna speculate or sign post or sign MOUs just just in order to generate news flow. We we will be announcing material transactions as and when they're they're completed.

32:59 But, Hannah, anything you wish to add to that? No. I I I think that's beautifully said. And I think as we took you through, you know, many of these announcements, I mean, some of those accelerations are are are weeks old. So, you know, the the EU has literally decided, you know, a few weeks ago to bring forward 20% of its capacity. Origin Energy in Australia that announced the early closure of its coal fired plant, you know, that was that's measured in weeks ago. So, you know, some of these things are happening, you know, really quickly. And so we want to make sure that, you know, we're doing the right thing at the right time. You know? And Steve's right. You know, we're we're three months out of IPO, but, you know, I think you should take away today that, you know, we have the ambition to be big and to be part of this market.

33:55 Fantastic. Thank you, Hannah. Another one we've got here. In GELION's previous publication, electricity storage market was estimated to grow at 24% CAGR according to Faraday Research. In light of accelerated plans by TESRA and others for far higher demand, would GELION revise its forecast and accelerate building of production facilities? Again, perhaps we can both chip in here. Think in terms of us building production facilities, I I don't think our first step is to build our own greenfield production facility. We're looking at partnering with people who have existing lead acid or or lithium production and partnering with them in order to use their infrastructure to to deploy our technology.

34:44 Clearly, to make sales, we have to have product to to supply to the market. So, really, a a major priority for us is putting in place those manufacturing partnerships to allow us to have product, which we can then supply to to customers. So I think there was a question on our on the q and a this morning as well on that. But, again, can we bring forward sales? Well, we want to bring forward sales, but we have to bring forward manufacturing in order to enable that. So that's really a key short term objective of the business. That's fantastic. Thank you. And the final pre submitted question we have here is noting the announcement on the February 28 regarding the number of shares held by the company. Can you please advise of any change, if any? I can take that. So in terms of the number of shares that were announced on the February 20, it just reflected some options that were exercised by employees. So I think from memory, it was around a 100,000 options or a 100,000 shares that were exercised by employees.

35:48 That's great. Thank you very much indeed. That does conclude the pre submitted questions. Amit, as you can see, we have had a number of questions submitted during the event this morning. If I may just ask you just to click on that q and a tab, and where appropriate to do so, to read out the question, either take it or distribute it to the team. That'll be great. Thank you. Sure. Thank you. So I think the first question from John f was around the share price and the trading volume as to it's quite low, and what are what is the company going to do to improve this? I think from our perspective, what we are focused on as a company is to accelerate our commercialization strategy and take advantage of all the opportunities that the market has. We strongly believe that the liquidity and the share price will follow once we start delivering on our promises, which we are which we very strongly believe that we'll be able to.

36:35 And the kind of shareholders that we have are long term shareholders, and they understand understand the journey that we are gonna take in so far and what it takes to become a commercial product. So, again, I think repeating Steve's comment before that we are focusing on the right opportunities and just give us some time and the share price and volume will take care of itself. Second question is from Nigel O. I think Steve already answered that in terms of bringing forward Yeah. Kind of sales targets to meet the growing demand. So I will not repeat that question. The third question was from John F. It's about, will the company need to raise fresh equity before achieving cash flow breakeven? How long will the 20,000,000 cash last? So I think repeating the same message that we we still believe in the same strategy in terms of commercialization strike that we had as disclosed in the investor presentation. The plan for the company is to raise fresh capital in f one twenty five.

37:31 The market expanding, the opportunities are enormous. So if things change, we'll come back to the market and build the market as and when we can. But for now, the the plan stays the way it was in the IPO. If I go to the next question I think that's the question with from Simon I has been answered as well. There's a question from Michael w. Any more serious expressions for JV other than us here now? I think on that, we look. We don't want to preview in the public market what our commercial activities are. So, of course, we are working hard on our picking the right commercial relationships, but we I don't wanna speculate today on what they might be. Needless to say, we understand what we needs to be done. People like Hannah joining come from very strategic backgrounds who know how to build strong commercial partnerships and joint ventures. So we're putting teams in place and the expertise in place to build such relationships, but it's inappropriate for us to sort of speculate today as to what they might be.

38:48 So I think we'll we but we will update the market as soon as as as as we have news on that. Thank you, Steve. I think the next one is for you as well, Steve. The question is from John a. Can you say a little bit little more about Hannah's role, which I understand is only on an interim basis? These circumstances with so many moving parts and fast pace required, nine months feels like a short horizon. Well, it depends. You know, nine months can feel shorter, can feel very long. You know, it's like a week in politics, isn't it? So I think we feel feel we needed the company needed leadership. We can't have a business run out ahead, and we and Hannah comes in with a perfect experience to come and help us make this transition.

39:37 And this next nine months is critical for us. A lot of the questions have been today around, you know, how we get to market and who we work with and how we accelerate our plans and so on, and we need it we need management in place to help that happen. And I think nine months is a realistic time frame where we can start to show tangible results from this transition and this acceleration that we're making. And so Hannah and I are working really closely together. I know it's only a couple of weeks in, but we will be spending time together in the next couple of weeks and working hard on the strategy to drive it forwards. And and I really I'm here to support Hannah in in helping us make this transition more quickly. Thank you, Steve.

40:23 Question for Mark Jay. Hannah, maybe for you. What are specific UK plans? Well, I think one of the things we just point to is, you know, we have those that strategic partnership with Armstrong, is is is clearly based in The UK. I mean, we're not know I'm very I'm very ready to get going, but I haven't delivered I'm not here to deliver a new strategy in two weeks. As Steve says, I'm I'm coming over to The UK and actually gonna spend a bit of time there. So we just think it's it's it's a very it's a very attractive market.

41:09 The latest round of the contract for different projects, They're bidding three times the amount of wind that were in the last three rounds. So it's enough for 8,000,000 homes. So that's not a market we would ignore. It's one that we know we know well. So we will definitely be looking at where we play in that market. But, you know, we really are a lot of these developments are very new, and we've gotta make sure that we place our bets in in the best place possible. UK looks like a good market, but we're not ready to announce specific UK strategy. Thank you, Anna. The next one is from Rob Bay. How safe is GELION's technology from being disrupted?

41:59 Do you well, I think the the the the two two facts we like to to roll out is is one, we've we've tested the battery at 600 degrees, and it didn't catch on fire. And then secondly, it operates effectively at fifty fifty degrees. And that's because the actual properties of zinc bromide are a fire retardant as opposed to lithium, which is highly flammable. So it is, you know, it is incredibly it is incredibly safe just because of the different chemical compositions. And that's something that we don't have to actually build a huge a huge database because, you know, many science, you know, scientists and chemists, you know, just know that. And I think that's that's part of the instinctive part of this product that makes it so good. But, you know, clearly, we've gotta, you know, be bringing it to life and connecting it all in the right way. But, you know, I think it's, you know, it's it's this is why we're so confident that it's gonna play an important role in the energy market going forward. And and if maybe I can just add to that because I think the question may also have been, you know, how how differentiated we are in terms of from other technologies. And two things I would say is one, we we have extensive patent portfolio, many of which are granted in territories around the world. So we have IP protection which

43:30 differentiates us and protects us from others. But the chemistry, the zinc bromide chemistry is fundamentally safe, and not many chemistries can can offer the same as that. So in applications where safety, you know, non flammable, you know, robustness are important, we have a particular advantage which is inherent to our chemistry, which others cannot easily replicate. So so we feel, you know, from an IP and from an inherent chemistry point of view, we have advantages with other technologies can't easily usurp. Thank you, Steve. I wanna thank Simon for his comments. The product is so good. If you produce, they will buy. Definitely, we believe in that.

44:18 The last question from John f, and I think we covered this, is how long will the trial last with Asuna? Have you started shipping products to the company yet? So I I can pick that up. Look. I think the Ascena details were announced in February, so I think we're on the same timetable as we were there. Our drive, though, is we want to ship more product to more customers more quickly. And so a lot of what we're doing is to be able to put ourselves in a position to do that because it is true that if we build it, they will come. But but it's only half true because you've gotta have the right partnerships and delivery capability and and financing solutions and warranty protection and o and m and so on. So so I think what we're trying to do is and what in my experience, really differentiates successful technology companies from those who are not is you have to know what's what every member of the value chain is getting out of it and have a proposition that works for everyone in the value chain so you can deliver to market successfully.

45:25 And, really, that's what we're doing. So we have a great technology, but now we're putting the proposition together so the whole value chain can deliver to the market. And, really, that starts with us working with manufacturers and then manufacturers with system integrators and and so on. So I think, clearly, we need to build it, but for us, we're putting all of the bits of the jigsaw together so that we have a successful solution for our customers. And that's really what will differentiate our success. So long winded answer to to to the question. Thank you, Steve. I think this is the last question probably for the evening. Question from Grant. I think we just need to check the facts that it says. The IPO was aiming to raise £200,000,000.

46:10 Currently, your market cap is a 100,000,000. Is this a problem? I can Yeah. Well, I can pick that one up. It's quite an easy one. No. Not a problem. We targeted raising 16,000,000. We were fully subscribed. We raised all the capital we needed to execute our plan. So I think that was probably just maybe a misread, but no. Not a problem at all. That's fantastic. Thank you all for addressing all those questions from investors. Of course, the company review any further questions submitted today, we publish responses on the investor meet company platform. Hannah, before redirecting investors to provide you with their feedback, which I know is particularly important to you and the company, could I please ask you just for a few closing comments, please? Thanks. Look. I think it's been a rich session and the key, you know, the key themes still stand, which are sitting up there today. But, you know, we we really we think we've got great technology, but, you know, great technology can't do great things without a great team, and that's what we've got.

47:16 We we're in the right market at the right time. It's essential for energy security and for energy costs that we make this energy storage work. And we, you know, we're well funded and our strategy is the right strategy. And, you know, as we've discussed, we, you know, we're we're really differentiated from other forms of technology, and that will create a a natural hunger. And we see that hunger, you know, every day as we speak to prospective customers. You know? So so overall, as many of the comments were in the final thing is, you know, if if we build it, they'll come. And, you know, we think that, you know, the the amount of excitement there is around the potential of this technology, you know, can be translated into commercial success, but we have to put in place the manufacturing partnerships.

48:08 We have to put in place the long term supply agreements to make this all happen. And we have those milestones set out, we're working very hard towards them. We've got a passionate and engaged team that really want to bring this to life. So thank you all for your attention today and for all the great questions, and, you know, we look forward to to keeping you updated as we go forward. That's fantastic. Hannah, Steve, Amit, thank you again for updating investors today. Could I please ask investors not to close the session? It should be automatically redirected to provide your feedback in order that the management team can better understand your views and expectations. This will only take a few moments to complete. I'm sure it's greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team of GELLON PLC, we'd like to thank you very much for attending today's presentation.

48:55 That concludes today's session. Thank you, and good morning to you all.