System1 Group (LSE:SYS1) — Annual General Meeting

0:01 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the SYSTEM1 GROUP PLC Annual General I'd now like to hand over to Chairman, Graham Blachell. Good morning. Good morning. Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's now a little after 11:30, and I'm very pleased to welcome you all, including those joining remotely, to the twenty twenty two annual general meeting of SYSTEM1 GROUP PLC. As we have a quorum present, we can start the meeting. And you may wish to follow the proceedings by referring to the notice of this meeting. First of all, I would like to introduce myself, Graham Blaschell, and my fellow board members.

0:55 To my right, to my left, rather, your right on the screen, John Kieran, our chief executive officer, and Chris Wilford, our chief financial officer. In the front row, which you may not be able to see on the screen, but I do have with me, Sophie Tomkins, our senior independent director, as well as our other nonexecutive directors, Rupert Howell, Phil McCray, and Conrad Boner, all sitting in the front row here today. The notice of the meeting was sent to you in accordance with the articles of association of the company. Unless there are any objections, I will take the notice as read. Thank you. Before we start the formal business of the meeting, I would explain briefly the procedures that we will follow. Although you have been requested to submit questions electronically, and those will be addressed in due course, today, at the end of the meeting, there will be an additional opportunity to ask questions.

1:51 For those of you attending in person, please give your name before asking a question and say whether or not you are a member of the company or a corporate representative of a member. People joining remotely can submit questions via investor me company. To be fair to everyone who wishes to speak, please restrict the number of questions you ask and be as brief as possible. And we will only permit questions from members, corporate representative of members, and proxies. You've also been asked to kindly submit your votes before today. Those who did not do so, but who are eligible to vote, will be invited to vote by way of a poll card once each of the resolutions has been read out. So please be reminded that those joining remotely are not able to vote.

2:40 Now to more accurately reflect the views of every shareholder of the company voting today, we will the voting today will be by way of a poll on each of the resolutions put to the meeting. And I'm appointing Link Group, the company's registrars, to act as scrutineers. When you register your attendance today, you will have been given a poll card, one of these, which the shareholders and proxies present at the meeting should complete and sign as indicated. In the case of corporate shareholders, the poll card should be completed by their authorized representatives or the meeting or by the proxy. If a voucher is both a shareholder and a proxy for another shareholder or if you are attending as a group as a proxy or representative of more than one shareholding, then you will please use separate poll cards for each shareholding.

3:31 Wow. On your poll cards, there are three options for each resolution. You can vote for the proposed resolution, against the proposed resolution, or you may withhold your vote. A vote withheld is not a vote in law and will not be counted in the calculation of the proportion of the votes for or against a resolution. And so will you please complete your poll cards by ticking the appropriate box next to the relevant resolution depending on how you wish to cast your vote? And once all the votes have been taken on the resolutions, please would you sign that poll card and hand it to the representatives of the link group, our registrars, who will be coming around to collect the poll cards at the close of the meeting.

4:17 Should you require any further assistance, our registrars will be happy to help you. Well, I can confirm that I have been appointed proxy in respect of 9,653,075 shares. So moving to the resolutions finally. Resolution number one is the resolution to receive the report of the directors and the accounts of the company for the financial year twenty twenty one twenty two, and I formally propose resolution one as an ordinary resolution. Now in accordance with good practice, I will let you know how shareholders who have submitted proxies have voted. Shareholders have submitted proxies in relation to resolution one as follows.

5:05 Shares in favor, 9,653,075. Shares against, zero. Shares withheld, zero. So the resolution is now put to the meeting. Please, would you tick the appropriate box on the poll card? Resolution number one, please. Hold on. Thank you. So I will now close the vote, and the poll is now closed on resolution one. Moving on to resolution two. Resolution two is the resolution to approve the director's remuneration report as sent to members with the notice of this meeting. I formally proposed resolution two as an ordinary resolution. Shareholders have submitted proxies in relation to resolution two as follows.

5:54 Shares in favor, 8,586,467. Shares against, 1,066,608. There were no shares withheld. So resolution two is now put to the meeting. Please, would you tick the appropriate box on your poll card? Thank you. Right. That vote is now closed then, and the poll on resolution two is closed. I now come to the resolution, to elect the the election of directors, which is actually is resolutions three, four, five, six, seven, and eight.

6:43 In accordance with the articles of association, all directors of the company are retiring, and except for myself, Graham Blaschell, are all offering themselves for reelection. In line with the best practice of the of standards of The UK corporate governance code and having served nine years as an independent director of the company, I shall be standing down at the close of this meeting. I've greatly enjoyed my time, with the company, and I wish my fellow directors and all the members of the staff my very best wishes for the foreseeable future. So resolution three. Resolution three is to reelect as a director of the company, John Kieran, the company's founder and chief executive officer. And I formally propose resolution three as an ordinary resolution.

7:29 Shareholders have submitted proxies in relation to resolution three as follows. Shares in favor, 9,651,210. Shares against, 1,265, and shares withheld, 600. So the resolution is now put to the meeting. Please, would you tick the appropriate box on your poll card for resolution three?

7:58 Thank you. We'll now close that vote, the poll on resolution three is closed. Moving on to resolution four. Resolution four is the resolution to reelect Sophie Tompkins, sitting in the front row, who is our nonexecutive director. I formally proposed resolution four as an ordinary resolution. Shareholders' votes have been submitted as proxies in relation to resolution four as follows. The shares in favor, 9,651,170. Those against, 1,305, and shares withheld, 600. So that resolution number four is now put to the meeting to vote. So would you please now tick the appropriate box on your poll card?

8:44 Thank you. So I now close the vote on resolution four. That poll is now closed. Resolution five is the resolution to reelect as a director of the company, Chris Wilford, who is our chief financial officer. And I formally propose resolution five as an ordinary resolution. Shareholders have submitted proxies in relation to resolution five as follows. Those in favor, 7,138,863, shares against 318,765, shares withheld 2,195,647. This resolution is now put to the meeting to vote. So will you please now tick the appropriate box on your poll card for resolution five?

9:36 Thank you. So I close the vote, and the poll is now closed on resolution five. Resolution six is the resolution to reelect Rupert Howell, who is a nonexecutive director. I formally propose resolution six as an ordinary resolution. Shareholders have submitted proxies in relation to resolution six as follows. Shares in favor, 6,304,601. Shares against, 3,347,874. Shares withheld, 600. So this resolution is now put to the meeting to vote. Will you please tick the appropriate box on your poll card for resolution six?

10:24 Thank you. So the poll on resolution six is now closed. Resolution seven is the resolution to elect Philip McCray, who has been appointed a nonexecutive director since our last annual general meeting. My formally proposed resolution seven, excuse me, as an ordinary resolution. Shareholders have submitted proxies in relation to resolution seven as follows. Shares in favor, 5,788,670. Shares against, 3,820,754. And shares withheld 43,651. This resolution is now put to the meeting to vote. So would you please tick the appropriate box on your poll card for resolution seven?

11:17 Thank you. So the poll is now closed on resolution seven. Resolution eight is the resolution to elect Conrad Bona, who has also been appointed as a nonexecutive director since the last annual general meeting. And I formally propose resolution eight as an ordinary resolution. Shareholders have submitted proxies in relation to resolution eight as follows. Shares in favor, 9,651,210. Shares against, 1,265. Shares withheld, 600. So resolution eight is now put to the meeting to vote. Would you please tick the appropriate box on your poll card? Thank you.

12:04 I now close the vote on resolution eight. The poll is now closed. We now come to resolution nine, which is the election of auditors. Resolution nine is the resolution to reappoint RSM UK Audit LLP as auditors of the company and to authorize the directors to determine the directors the author the auditor's remuneration. The company's act of 2006 requires you to reappoint our auditors and to approve the manner of determining their remuneration. And so I formally propose resolution nine as an ordinary resolution. Shareholders have submitted proxies in relation to resolution nine as follows. Shares in favor, 9,649,877.

12:53 Shares against, 2,598, and there were 600 shares withheld. So this resolution is now put to the meeting to the vote. Will you please tick the appropriate box on your poll card?

13:10 Okay. Thank you. That vote is now closed. The poll on this resolution is closed. Resolution 10 is the resolution to authorize the directors to allot relevant securities subject to the provisions set out in the notice, and I formally propose resolution 10 as an ordinary resolution. Shareholders have submitted proxies in relation to resolution 10 as follows. Shares in favor, 8,494,942. Shares against, 1,158,133, and there was zero shares withheld. So resolution 10 is now put to the meeting to vote, and will you please tick the appropriate box on your poll card?

13:59 Thank you. I close the vote on resolution 10. We now come to the special business of the meeting. Resolution 11 is a special resolution to allow the company to disapply shareholders' preemptive rights on the issue of new shares subject to the provisions as set out in the notice, and I formally propose resolution 11 as a special resolution.

14:23 Shareholders have submitted proxies in relation to resolution 11 as follows. Shares voted in favor, 6,280,175. Shares against 3,372,900, and the shares withheld zero. So resolution 11 is now put to the meeting to vote. Would you please tick the appropriate box on your poll card?

14:51 Thank you. I've now closed the vote formally. The poll is closed on resolution 11. Resolution 12 is a special resolution to allow the company to disapply shareholders' preemptive rights on the issue of new shares in connection with an acquisition or specified capital investment subject to the provisions as set out in the notice, and I formally propose resolution 12 as a special resolution. Shareholders have submitted proxies in relation to resolution 12 as follows. Shares in favor, 6,280,175. Shares against, 3,372,900. Shares withheld, zero.

15:39 So resolution 12 is now put to the meeting to vote. Please, would you tick the appropriate box on your poll card? K. Thank you. I will now close the vote. The poll is now closed. Resolution 13 is the special resolution to allow the company to purchase its own shares subject to the provisions set out in the notice, and I formally proposed resolution 13 as a special resolution.

16:09 Shareholders have submitted proxies in relation to resolution 13 as follows. Shares in favor, 8,815,680. Shares against, 837,395, and there were no shares withheld. And so resolution 13 is now put to the meeting. Please, would you tick the appropriate box on your poll card?

16:36 Thanks, everyone. So I now close the vote on the poll on resolution 13 is closed. Resolution 13, you may be pleased to hear, was the final resolution of the AGM, and that concludes the formal part of the meeting. So thank you for joining us here today in the room and, of course, remotely. The directors appreciate your continued support, and, of course, we look forward to see you all in 2023. Now before we get to the questions, would you now please like to sign your poll card, hand it to the representative of the link grouper at the back of the room, or they will perhaps come around and collect. Perhaps you can deliver if they're already to deliver. And the final results of the voting will be published via the RNS, service later today. And, of course, we will also be publishing the results on our website as soon as is practicable.

17:33 I now am delighted to open the floor to questions from those who have joined us, first of all. And could I just remind everyone if they do have a question, please state your name beforehand and keep it as concise and succinct as possible. Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is yours. Maynard. Tell us who you are again, Maynard. I've we have a radio mic, so I'll pick you up. I'll repeat the question if you like, if it's not too long. Mention about the billion pound market cap and £100,000,000 meetings and revenue figures were dropped this last.

18:20 So why why are the changes? Because it seems like you're not as confident now as as you were a year ago with those projections. Just before I ask John to ask that question, I think I'll just repeat the gist of that question. You can correct me, Maynard, if he was incorrect. I'm conscious of people viewing online who may not have heard it in full. Mister Peyton pointed out that we have, in in the reason to believe section of the annual report and accounts, we stated an ambition in the previous, year's, report and accounts to achieve ultimately a turnover of 1,000,000,000 or become a 100, sorry, a £100,000,000 company. And Maynard pointed out that in this year's version of the annual report and accounts, that particular phrase has been not included in this year. And he was asking if that meant that we had had an underlying loss of ambition perhaps in in our objective and targets for the company. Is that fair, Maynard, as a summary? In that case, I'm gonna ask John, our CEO, to answer that question.

19:15 Maynard, the ambition is is as as big and as strong as it has always been. It wasn't particularly deliberate, I think,

19:25 putting it together. But at the same time, I mean, let's keep it real, realism and belief. If that's an infinity loop that are things that you want to reinforce each other. But our last year's results were, as the report said, not spectacular at the top level, far from it, but 5%. But underneath that, there is the growth of, if you like, the business that we've created over the last few years in the predict your, improve your, you know, automated platform. We made a conscious decision to take those numbers out. So put them in the year before. Yeah. Think it's we've achieved this because they are bold numbers Yeah. To where we were a year ago. Yep. And you've taken them out.

20:13 So the impression you get, even though you still think that you're achievable Yep. Is we're not going to repeat. The impression you give is your next you're less confident.

20:23 Well, I I I think I would apologize on on John's behalf then if if you feel that we're less ambitious and confident. What I would point to, and I think it's important for all shareholders, is to recognize that this has been a company in transition. And I mean, the ambition, believe me, is still there. The fact is that we've spent about £6,000,000 of shareholders' money, a little bit more, in fact, over the last two to three years. And in that process, we have developed the platform. And as you've seen in the releases that we've been making quarterly now and more recently and at the half year, how the growth of data products is really accelerating very, very rapidly. And so to that extent, mister Peyton, I mean, it certainly is the case that we believe that that money is well spent. We believe that the transition is is really going very successfully, and it's moving forward at a pace that we're very pleased with.

21:13 But John is absolutely right. We've got a turnover today of

21:18 the last reported year was just over 20 millions. 24. 24 as Chris is whispering my ear, which is very good. Thank you. We have to be realistic. We're on a journey. Believe me, the endpoint of that journey is just the same as we stated before. I promise you. Any more questions? This question. Oh, sorry. May not so well, let's just go one from May not, shall we, first? We'll have an online question as well. Yeah. You said in previous year, you you Yeah. You're comparing your products to the the you're right. You know, the legacy Yeah. Of the competition, a 100 times faster. This year, it's 20 times faster. It sounds like the competition even catching up for your products. So perhaps not as fast as you thought they were previously. So these little Yep. These deliberate changes here.

22:05 Yep. And it's not clear why you've made them. So just so so again, for people on the line, I'm kind of repeating the point that he still feels that we're communicating a lack of ambition in in in in the within the wording in our annual report. And then I I think it's a change of ambition. I don't know who does the

22:26 It's a reflection, the 100 to the 20 of reality. So we monitor the competition very in, you know, very in great detail. Literally, and a lot of it is claimed, by the way, rather than reality. So but based on claimed speed, your example, it's 20 times faster now, not 100, which you're right to say the competition are

22:53 putting in effort to get faster. Okay? So our results are all delivered, not just claimed in actual fact within twenty four hours, often quicker. All right? Now, how much faster does it need to be for marketers to make decisions on advertising development?

23:13 Not much. Okay? So so there's a sort of a limit to how much that becomes the thing that customers choose us for. Price is pretty much doing a similar thing. The prices over the years have, you know, come down. We've led it and others are doing their best to do the same. The piece that is the reason to believe that is head and shoulders and significantly different is the predictability, the accuracy of the predictions and the efficacy of our improvement guidance. So the predict your and improve your, and that is what customers are actually buying. Then the fact that it's delivered literally within twenty four hours and at a price that's so much cheaper than it used to be, that means that they can test early and test often.

24:02 You don't need such a such a, if you like, headroom on price and speed because it's really about these big companies are spending huge amounts of money and are they actually getting a return on that money profitable, short and long term? That is the thing that is basically driving our acquisition of new customers and big ones. I assure you that all the board of directors and the staff, we keep on believing. We really haven't given up. I'm going to ask Chris now, if I may. We have a couple of questions online. And Chris, could you read out the first one, please? Yes. We have a question from Peter S. What happened to the lawsuit against the USA SYSTEM1?

24:47 That's something something. I'm gonna hand it straight back to Chris again, I think, because he's the perfect person to answer his own question. Yeah. And that's something where as and when there's news, we have been updating the market. We haven't updated the market recently. There is no news. We're waiting for the Southern District District of New York judge, judge Ramos, to consider and rule on the motion to dismiss from The US SYSTEM1. And we keep thinking it's going to be this month or this week, but we're still waiting. And, yeah, we just have to allow him to make take his time and make the right decision. It has been almost six months now, think, hasn't it? Yeah. Do I have another question online? We do have another question online. Plea please, could you expand on the reasons for the review of strategic options?

25:34 Well, I'll take that to start with, perhaps, you know, perhaps, Sophie, do you wanna contribute as well? Yeah. Let let me reason fundamentally is is we recognize that notwithstanding all the investments that we've made and the progress that we we genuinely believe we're making, we recognize that the actual revenue and profit performance has been relatively modest over the years. We were a profitable company with cash generative. But frankly, we thought the time was now right, having made the investments that we've made. And, you know, we're staffed up and geared and and very ambitious and hopeful to to achieve the objectives, going back to your early point, mister Peyton. But nonetheless, we have to recognize that we are still a challenger in the marketplace, in reality against some much larger players.

26:23 And therefore, it seemed to us sensible to simply ask ourselves the question, should we be looking more widely than that ourselves? Are there other opportunities that may be available to us? And that was really the question. And I mean, this is true of all companies. I'm not talking specifically of SYSTEM1. You know, how can we distribute our products better? We have partnerships which we're now developing. Could those partnerships be developed more strongly in a different manner perhaps? Is I mean, could we be looking not necessarily, I don't think, to acquire? Mean, are there other opportunities of working with other groups on on whatever? Or do we have specific attributes in our business, which perhaps we haven't sufficiently recognized that could be applicable elsewhere? So there are a variety of of different routes. And it just struck us that we ought to just take a step back from the day to day level of the business. And before and I recall the timing of this review announcement was we were on the verge of returning a significant amount of cash to shareholders.

27:24 And the discussion with some shareholders, it was suggested to us that before we took that step, it might just be sensible to see if what uses of the cash there could possibly be internally or externally or or elsewhere. And on that basis, we said, That actually is is a good prompt to the board as a whole. Let us step back for a moment and simply postpone the projected return to shareholders and and use the resources, both of the nonexecutive directors and indeed possibly outsiders, to take a look at the broader picture. And we've asked, Sophie Tompkins, our senior independent director, together with other, independent directors, to take the lead on that, which is the process just beginning. Sophie, do you want to add to that? I'm sorry off camera, but I mean, please, can you around? Yeah. Thank you. You put the camera behind you? It's my door behind you. I mean, not much to sorry. What's yeah. Not much to really add to that rather than just to say that the the board, we are acutely aware that we operate in a very, very fast changing landscape, and therefore, it behoves us as a as a board and senior team to be really, really mindful of that. So with the strategic review process, really pulls together work that was actually already underway in the business to accelerate and formalize it.

28:35 And as we said in the original RNS, we expect to announce initial conclusions of the strategic review by the end of November and work is active and underway. Thank you, Sophie. I know more questions. Question on line. We have any more questions in the room? I've got no. I don't want this to become a conversation, but by all means, let's let's ask one more question, please. I mean, I'm patient shareholder. Just going back to the tender. It just seemed over some of the announcements over some of you you made a decision about buybacks and tender offers and buyback then the tender offer then you cancel the book. Just to see, you know, quite indecisive.

29:20 So whose idea was the tender? Is that a system wide idea or an outside shareholder? Well, I think the simple answer to your question is, I'm sorry if it appears indecisive. I thought I'd try to explain the background just a moment ago about why we we decided to postpone. Now we've always been conscious of capital allocation. And in fact, if you look back at our history, and you've been a shareholder for many years, that we have always had a history of returning cash, surplus cash, which we felt we didn't want to invest further into the business back to shareholders because it's shareholders' money. The impact of COVID and the way that we have to batten down the hatches for the business over the period of eighteen months or so, there's a great degree of uncertainty, meant that our cash balances have probably built up rather more than they might otherwise do. You recall we suspended the dividend at that period as well. Because going into that COVID process, and you know this was true of the whole marketing service industry worldwide, nobody knew what to expect how long it might last. And I mean, there was a fear at one point the whole thing could be existential.

30:23 And so we really did clamp down very, very significantly at that time. Now, the result was we had significant cash balances, which you'll be aware of in the balance sheet. And we were literally talking about, as you say, progressively, and we thought prudently. I mean, you some shareholders might have argued that we could have gone further with the original buyback in the market. But we chose to be prudent to just make sure that there's gonna be a recurrence of the pandemic, you know, second or third waves or whatever. And we wanted to be sure that the business was sound, which it always is. As you know, we we got very low levels of borrowing, and that we have. As I mentioned to you, it was in discussion with some of our institutional shareholders that who were obviously very concerned about capital allocation as well. But they suggested to us, you know, what do you really think are the best uses of your capital?

31:19 And should we just be returning it to shareholders, although they're always very keen to get their money back? And it was that that prompted the review we're now in. Now it could well be that in two or three months' time, we will reach a conclusion which exactly reinstates the the the status quo, but it was felt to be a a sensible thing to do at that point in time. So I'm sorry if it appeared to you as being a little bit uncertain or or whatever, but I I assure you that it was actually a progressive series of decisions, which we we felt were the right ones for the business. Maynard, can we just check Maynard's microphone is on? I'm sorry. Because apparently people still can't hear it. It is. Okay. Alright. So all of that was in response to a question that was concerned about was that the series of announcements on on returning cash to shareholders via a buyback side of and the methodology of the buyback as well because clearly, if there's only in terms of methodology, I mean, that if it's preempting a further question, clearly, once we determined that the potential amount of money we were able to return was of the order of of of of of of million pounds, that our shares are relatively illiquid.

32:36 And so in in many respects, there's a limit to what you can do in the marketplace because literally, are not tranches of shares out there. So a tender offer, which is essentially an auction, would be an interesting way of trying to see what the real appetite was for people out there holding the shares or at what price they were prepared to ask us to take them back. So I mean, it was a practical decision based on the realities of our market cap and our liquidity. Okay. I'll come back with two points. First point is that you had a a weak q four and a profit warning. Profits were were 1,000,000 lower than expected, which is a lot just for one quarter. So the business didn't seem that stable, and it just seemed odd that all of a sudden, you have a loss in the second half, and then you're thinking about returning money.

33:27 It's perhaps maybe that could be a decision put off a few years time when the business is on a more stable footing. I think there are two separate issues that I just come in, mate. Well, I'll pass to Chris in just a moment. The issue in in in in the quarter that you're referring to, we made full reference to in our releases, and that was because there was a a clear case of over optimism, ambition, call it what you will, on behalf of our US business. Remember, this was over time when through COVID, travel to The United States was impossible, and we were operating remotely, and the The US business did not return the expectations that we're looking for in q four of of the financial year that we're now just reporting on. And so we had to take rapid action to deal with that.

34:12 And in fact, our CEO was over in in in The US for the best part of three months dealing with that particular issue. And that's what led to that particular trading issue for that quarter. The issue of the cash balances accumulating over the last three or four years is an entirely separate issue because that's just the way the cash is generated from the business. But Chris is a better person than I am to to to reiterate that point. Let me have a go. So if you look at our total cash balance, it's been around it it was around $1,010,000,000 when we made that decision, including 2,500,000 of borrowed money. And, therefore, the the the question in our minds was, is that enough for dire events, loss absorption, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera?

34:58 What's the company turning over? How fast is the company growing? Clearly, the faster the company is growing at the time, the more the argument for having that having the working capital and for that working capital drag that you have when you're growing really, really fast. Now we we signaled at the start of the year that we we would be growing less quickly. In fact, perhaps we wouldn't be growing at all in the first half of the year if you remember the the Capital Markets Day. And, therefore, we had this cash. Regardless of profitability, we had a pile of cash at the time that we felt was more than we realistically needed for our medium term requirements. Now what's changed since then? Not a massive amount, though I think most of in fact, we're getting some chat on the that that that you can't say this again. Some chat about the economic environment has changed globally. Not nothing to do with SYSTEM1, but out there, it's a lot more challenging than it was in February and April. So that's one reason, perhaps, to put one's foot on the ball and consider whether this is the greatest time to do a tender offer for 1,500,000,000.

36:02 Perhaps it should be less. But that's now all wrapped up into the broader strategic review. Okay. Is there more questions online, or do want me to We no. We've just got supportive comments about about hanging on to the cash at the moment. I mean, well, as the from an outside shareholder perspective, I mean, cash is good. I mean, you're getting pressure presumably from It's your cash, mate. But you don't know what the future holds. That was quite good. And you look at the second half performance, I think it was a loss. And you think, well, you know, is that gonna continue? I mean, I don't I don't know. But, I mean, that goes on different questions about the bespoke consult consultancy work.

36:48 As an outside shareholder, we don't know if that's withering away or if it's gonna come back. So we're thinking, oh, okay. Maybe cash is good. You're don't return it. And it just seems an indecisive over the summer. This is just a statement rather than a question, but indecisive over the summer, it seems like you've been pressured into from other shareholders into returning the money when really you should be holding on to the cash, developing this data platform. And then if it does take off and if you do get £100,000,000 revenue, then you can think about on that journey handing the cash back then. Isn't that a better idea, John? Thank you for that thought. This is rapidly becoming a conversation. I think I'm conscious that it's being streamed online as well. So look, I I I do have any more specific questions as which I think would interest the wider audience of shareholders. Because the alternative would be we could close the meeting, that says you could have a conversation with us informally to answer your specific requirements if you prefer.

37:46 I'll ask one final one on the bespoke consultancy work. Is that now gonna wither away? What's the concentrate? Because you've hired more people in The States. Yeah. So what's their job now? Is that to bring back more bespoke consultancy work or is it to focus on the data? The the of the sales team, all of them is building the future business, which is the test your ad, test your brand, test your idea platform together with consultancy at scale. And the consultancy business has been part part of the withering, which which is true, is actually conversion over to the platform, by the way. So the team done a great job. But that's probably pretty much done. And the future of this business, over what period of time, is a test, a predict and improve using the platform and being able to scale that and deliver it overnight at an amazing price, but with real numbers to prove that our predictions actually get that massive marketing spend to turn into profit.

38:54 That is the future and it's managing the two things. So not trying to hold onto the bespoke tailor made old business. There'd always be some, but you know, yeah, that's the past and it's probably a useful thing to be able to do because sometimes, you know, just as part of the process of getting a customer onto the platform, there's a degree of bespoke to win. But yeah, it's not the future. The future is the data business as it's been defined together with the consultancy. And we have been very successful in migrating a great number of our clients from a sort of transactional ad hoc bespoke consultancy into using the platform and its parameters.

39:43 And those customers have become very satisfied and are very now regular and and and frequent users. Yeah. I think what I'd to do, my dear, unless there's really anything more to come from the room, is I'd like to formally close the question and answer session, if I may, and say that the meeting is now closed and thank those shareholders who have joined us today. So that will close that. But we will make ourselves available right now over a cup of coffee or whatever, by all means, to have an informal conversation with you. And if if there are any further questions, we'd be happy to sort of discuss your thoughts on the business. Of course, we would. So thank you all, ladies and gentlemen. And one last comment, if I may Oh. Graham. Oh. Oh. Is Graham, you know, you have shouldered us. You have guided us over the last four four years and before that as a nonexec.

40:30 And we're going to have a proper lunch, by the way, to do this justice. But I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of the board, the exec, the staff, and shareholders because it hasn't been easy. But you've It's been eventful, bitch. But you've been brilliant and really, you know, held us all together and very grateful. So So I don't know. At this point, I think I should say thank you and good night. That's great. Thank you to the Board from SYSTEM1 GROUP for your time this afternoon. Could I please ask investors on the call not to close this session? We'll now automatically redirect you for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order that the board can better understand your views and expectations.

41:18 This may take a few moments to complete, but I'm sure will be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the board of SYSTEM1 GROUP PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's annual general meeting online, and may wish you all a very pleasant afternoon.