Morning, everybody. Welcome to our half year results presentation. This time we're holding it remotely, obviously. Senior management team socially distanced at Breedon on the Hill. I'm joined, as usual, by Pat Ward, our CEO, and Rob Wood, Group Finance Director. We'll take questions from the analysts after the presentation. Until then, all participants are going to be muted, and the moderator will explain how the Q&A will work when we get there. I'd now like to turn over the meeting to Pat to start the presentation.
Morning, everybody. Slightly unusual circumstance, I'm pleased you could join us. For many of you, this is what it looks like to go back to work in an office environment, which has been the case for us. I'll give some highlights, and then Rob will take over from a financial perspective. For us, group highlights, very encouraging performance in the first 12 weeks of the year, broadly in line with the prior year. That's considering some adverse weather. Also, we lost the last week of March to the sort of the beginning of COVID impact. Good start to the year, and then the world changed for everybody. COVID struck, we moved quickly, probably within 48- 72 hours, to a significant lockdown in our business and significant furlough.
That was prompted by, we could quickly see a change in demand, and demand really fell off a cliff quickly in that period towards the end of March. We'd already taken some precautionary changes in restricting capital expenditure and operational expenditure. We had taken some initial decisions to preserve cash. Quickly, as it became apparent demand was going, we made a sort of quite an aggressive decision to have a sort of hard and quick furlough to the extent probably 85% of our colleagues were furloughed in the business. Within, probably within two days, demand was significantly off. That was absolutely the correct decision from a financial perspective. Maybe more importantly, it was the right decision because of the unknowns. It was the right decision for our colleagues in the business and for the safety and well-being of our colleagues.
I'm not delighted about the actions we had to take, but I'm delighted how decisive we were, how quickly we executed. For us, as Breedon, we've always talked about how agile we are, and I think that demonstrated how agile we are as an organization. As we moved through that, we started to see some recovery, and we started reopening sites in early May. Now, sorry, in the period up till May, I'm sort of indebted to some of our colleagues who stayed to supply essential contracts, working a difficult time with people's families. The fact that our colleagues continued to work there allowed us to support our colleagues who were furloughed as well. I'm indebted to those individuals in our business. We started moving towards opening sites in early May, and demand continued to improve.
Regionally, which is considered a strength for us, we saw a good recovery in the Republic of Ireland in cement and in the asphalt and aggregate business. That started to underline the benefits of our geographical spread throughout the business. Scotland was a little slower. Principally, the First Minister in Scotland was more cautious in the approach and was slow to open the business. Even when the decision was made to open the business, they were very prescriptive on how long it should take to achieve COVID readiness from a safety perspective in the business. That disadvantaged us a little because I was always conscious that the way we shut the business down in March, we could reopen quickly. Our businesses naturally lend themselves to social distancing because people work in their own machines or are in an outdoor environment.
We always felt we could reopen sites within 24 hours, other than cement, which would be 48 hours. When Scottish Parliament really prescribed that the COVID readiness work should take two weeks, again, that delayed our return in Scotland. Pleasingly, we were able to see that June's revenues continued to recover and grow. Really, they recovered to 99% of June 2019. That was a strong recovery. We finished the half year with a strong balance sheet. Net debt reduced to GBP 253.6 million and leverage of 1.9, which when you consider essentially we've lost almost one quarter through our business for 2020, is I think, a commendable result. Our financial headroom at June 30th was GBP 344 million. The acquisition of CEMEX assets are expected to complete imminently, and we're delighted about that. For us, the recovery looks well underway.
Many of our colleagues are back at work. The vast majority of our colleagues are back at work. For us, the outlook is positive. On that, I'll pass you to Rob Wood.
Thank you, Pat, and good morning, everybody. As you can see from the financial highlights, the impact of COVID-19 has been significant. Following the encouraging performance of our business in the first 12 weeks of the year, the move into lockdown and immediate fall in demand in the latter part of March led us into a swift and managed shutdown of the majority of our operations. Our revenues in April fell to 19% of those recorded in the same month of 2019, followed by 45% in May, before improving to 99% in June as the recovery began to gather pace. On a like-for-like basis, excluding the two additional trading days in June 2020, June's revenue was 91% of June 2019. The impact of COVID-19 resulted in a first-half revenue decline of 25% and an underlying EBIT decline of 101%.
We moved quickly in March to preserve our liquidity, restricting capital expenditures to committed and critical projects, and eliminating discretionary expenditure, and applying robust discipline to our management of working capital. This enabled us to reduce our net debt to GBP 253.6 million, from GBP 290.3 million at the year-end, and GBP 343.7 million a year ago. Leverage was 1.9x , compared with 1.6x at the year-end, and 2.0x a year ago. Turning to the income statement and revenue, which at GBP 335.3 million was down 25%.
At the earnings level, the underlying EBIT loss of GBP 0.6 million was down 101%. The reduced interest costs of GBP 6.4 million reflected the lower level of net debt and the lower cost of debt in 2020. Non-underlying items of GBP 3.1 million were primarily comprised of amortization costs and acquisition costs. The resulting loss before tax of GBP 10.1 million was down 126%.
The tax charge reflected an effective tax rate of 18%. It also reflected the U.K. government's decision to cancel the planned reduction in corporation tax rates in 2020 from 19% to 17%, which we flagged to the market at our 2019 results back in March. This has resulted in an increase of GBP 5.5 million in the group's deferred tax liabilities. All this translated into an underlying basic loss per share of GBP 0.0065 for the first half. Turning to the segmental performance. Post-lockdowns, the pace of reopening differed from business to business, determined in part by the needs of our customers and in part by the differing timelines by which the various governments and devolved administrations ease restrictions of movement. Great Britain's performance was impacted by Scotland, which remained subdued until well into June as a result of the delayed lifting of restrictions by the Scottish Parliament.
Ireland's performance benefited from our operations in the Republic of Ireland and recovered strongly from late May onwards. Lastly, our cement business was in lockdown for a shorter period than our other businesses, as we were able to safely produce to stock for a period of time post-lockdown. Turning to our products. All volumes declined given the COVID-19 lockdowns. Asphalt declines exceeded aggregates and cement volumes as a result of our Scottish exposure. Concrete volumes also reflected the fact that the recovery of concrete demand has lagged that of our other products. In terms of pricing, prices have generally progressed in excess of inflation in the first half, and discipline has been maintained in the post-COVID-19 period. Now turning to net debt, which stands at GBP 253.6 million at the half year.
It has reduced by GBP 36.7 million since the end of 2019. This reflected the underlying EBITDA of GBP 32.6 million, a GBP 38.4 million working capital inflow, which has benefited from tax deferrals and the absence of the usual seasonal increase in working capital, interest and tax paid of a combined GBP 15.5 million, and GBP 15.6 million net capital expenditure outflow. As already mentioned, this level of net debt translated into a leverage of 1.9x , 1.7x on a covenant basis. Excluding the impact of the tax deferrals, these would have been 2.2x and 2.0x . Although the recovery in May and June allowed us to remain comfortably within our original covenants, in April, we agreed with our banks a relaxation of our 30th of June 2020 covenants and a deferral of GBP 35 million of loan amortization to April 2022.
Our banks have also indicated their intention to agree a relaxation of covenants for the December 2020 period if required. Additionally, in May, we were confirmed as being eligible for the Covid Corporate Financing Facility with an issuer limit of GBP 300 million, although at this stage we have no current intention of utilizing this facility. This meant that at the 30th of June, we had GBP 124 million of cash and an undrawn committed bank facility of GBP 219.4 million, combining to give headroom of GBP 344.0 million before the impact of the CCFF and before the imminent completion of the CEMEX assets. In summary, it has been a challenging first half. The near-term outlook for our business is clearly dependent on the speed at which demand recovers.
Given the uncertainties that we still face, we may remain unable at this stage to provide market guidance. However, we will update the market as soon as we have sufficiently robust information to be able to do so. I'll now pass you on to Pat to take you through the operational review and outlook.
Thanks, Rob. As we get through the next stage, I'm not going to labor some of the data because such a dynamic environment we work in, some of the information's almost redundant before we get it, and I'm sure we'll tackle many of these areas as we get to the Q&A. The first slide, I'd like to draw your attention to the graph on the right-hand side, which talks about MPA sales volume, which you can see is a significant deterioration in demand. Maybe I'd also caution that in some areas our reduction in demand would be greater than this, because London itself was a bit more resilient than other parts of the country, and traditionally we don't have as much exposure in London. We have a significant business in Scotland, and the lockdown in Scotland continued longer.
I'd say even some of our deterioration was maybe more exaggerated than we're seeing here. Again, it's a testament to our colleagues in the business that with such a deterioration in demand, we've been able to manage through that quarter. Business reviews, I've touched on a little bit, but I'll come back. As I say, good start to the year in all regions. Very strong in Q1. In England and Wales have had a decent recovery as we come out of lockdown in Q2. Scotland was more protracted, as we discussed. We won some early supply contracts during the lockdown period for HS2. The A9, which is one of the major projects where we're going to be supplying for the majority of 2020, was obviously stopped in Scotland. It's started again.
We're happy that Loak Farm, which was really almost a borrow pit type site adjacent and on the alignment to the A9, is supporting our Shierglas site, and we are now supporting the contractor in trying to catch up some of the schedule that's been lost due to this. We're pleased to have that going again. We were also successful, BEAR was successful in being awarded a 5G framework contract in Scotland. We're delighted about that. In Ireland, the recovery was strong in the ROI throughout June, and quickly it got back to, and in some cases exceeded, pre-COVID expectations. We're delighted about that. We won significant contracts on the N52 in the phase two of Dublin's airport runway. In the north of Ireland, we won contracts in the M1 and A4.
Pleasingly for us, we were awarded significant contracts during the lockdown period, which I'm indebted to some of our clients and customers who have continued to bid work and continued to award work during that period. That was a positive going forward. Cement, good steady recovery. The progression was quite solid. We managed to keep the sites open longer because of the nature of our building inventory and the plants, and two shutdowns were completed during H1 as well. Regarding the CEMEX assets, which we've discussed many times, we expect completion to be imminent. You can define imminent on your own. The assets will be held separate until completion of the CMA's investigation. The business will trade as Pinnacle Construction Materials under an independent management team for the period of the hold separate.
It will be headquartered in separate offices near East Midlands Airport and several regional offices throughout the geography where these assets are located. The CMA's decision on phase one of its investigation is due to be announced on the 26th of August 2020. Following completion of the CMA's investigation, these assets will be integrated into Breedon. I am as or more confident about the quality of these assets and the colleagues that will be joining us and our ability to improve this business as soon as it comes across to Breedon. I'm also, the fact that it's imminent is pleasing for me as we see the markets recovering quickly. It was always key when this transaction was completed. For me, the sooner the better as we see the recovery in the markets. 2020 group outlook.
Again, I won't labor the data from the CPA, etc . I think maybe the commentary I'd make is June, we got back to 99% of 2019's volumes. That started, that was improving throughout the month. The volumes at June relative to 2019 were better at the end of June than they were at the beginning of June. I would say that was a level of improvement continuing throughout July. I think that's more relevant than some of the data which will catch up with that. Again, activity levels are improving in all sectors and all geographies. Finally, the group outlook for us for 2020. The recovery is well underway. Inquiry levels are encouraging. Awards of work are encouraging, and the competitive nature in the market is encouraging.
There's increased demand for major projects, A9, HS2, Dublin Airport. These have continued to be awarded during the lockdown period. We've also been able to benefit, as Breedon has done in the past, from self-help. As we've always sort of said, as the volume's not there to help us, we'll take the opportunity in quieter moments to improve our business, to look at operational efficiencies, to look at technical efficiencies, to look at logistical efficiencies. We've been able to do that. As we bring people back, we've been able to execute more of those improvements, and we can see that. I think we'll see that over the course of H2, show an improvement in our business overall. We'll continue to see the benefits of our geographical diversity, and that diversity will be enhanced by the CEMEX acquisition when it completes and is fully integrated.
At this point, we affirm that we are unable at this stage to provide market guidance, but that will evolve, and I'm sure we can talk about it throughout the Q&A. I think that wraps up the formal part of the presentation.
Okay. Thank you, Pat. If any analysts who've joined the Zoom meeting would like to ask a question, then please can you raise your hand by clicking on the button at the bottom of your screen. You can best do that if you've joined the meeting via a computer or the Zoom app. If you can please ensure that your video is activated, and you're unmuted when you're brought into the presentation area. If you have joined by telephone, you can still raise your hand by pressing star nine. As usual, if you could please give your name and organization for the benefit of those on the webcast when you join. I think we'll just take our first question from David O'Brien. Just bringing David into the room. Bear with us a moment.
Okay, David, if you could just unmute your line and perhaps show your video, you can ask your question.
Hey, guys. Can you hear me?
Yeah, David, maybe we should lose your video.
This is the first time I haven't had pajamas on at this time of day in about six months. Thanks very much. It's great to see everyone's keeping safe and well, firstly, and thanks for taking time to take my questions. A couple from me, please, if I could. The key question for everybody is trying to decipher between pent-up demand and real demand, and I guess it is too early to even have a gauge at that at the moment. What I'm trying to get a sense is, given that there are only so many days in the week to catch up on missed activity, how long do you guys think this catch-up period will last? When do you feel you have a truer sense of underlying demand in the market?
Secondly, you've talked about Scotland, I suppose, being a little bit slower to open up because of the government's hesitancy. From what you've seen to date, though, is the pace of recovery, albeit lagged, matching the same trajectories you've seen in England? A third, a lot of stress through the environment in terms of all the way through the supply chain. I guess, what kind of opportunities do you think are going to come up for you guys over the next 6- 12 months? Do you think they'll be accelerated? How do you think you're placed to take advantage of them given the completion of CEMEX very shortly? Finally, from me, a lot of talk about stimulus, be it in the Republic of Ireland or into the U.K.
When do you think, or how does Breedon think about the overall stimulus impacting activity levels in terms of timing, how confident you are around it taking effect, and how well-placed you are to take advantage of those opportunities as well?
Yeah. I'm not sure at this point we're seeing a lot of benefit from pent-up demand. The volumes are improving, and certainly they're improving at the start through asphalt maintenance and the asphalt program supported by aggregates and a little slower in ready-mix, which I think was associated with a slow start to home building. I don't think we're seeing at this point much benefit from the stimulus, particularly from the Chancellor's comments on his pothole fund, which we believe will come through. I think that's to come in the future, maybe even in the midterm. I'm very confident about 2020 and the level of activity out there that there will be some catch-up. Clearly, you won't catch up 2.5 months of some impacted volume. What we are seeing more recently is an improvement in the last few weeks in ready-mix concrete.
There's clearly more of a move to open some home building sites, and that's a positive. Very quickly, we saw asphalt contracting aggregates, all of those businesses getting back to moving towards pre-COVID levels, and ready-mix was lagging a bit, but in the last couple of weeks, we've started to see that come forward. In Scotland, yes, it was slow. It was slow starting. The recovery in Scotland, I think, has picked up pace again in the last two weeks, and we're starting to see that now sort of level out at the level of activities that we. It's following the same recovery path as we saw in the south. It's just lagging it by, I don't know, four weeks or something. It's continued to improve.
I think that's answered a couple of the questions. On the pent-up demand versus normal demand, I think Pat and I's view is that we will have much greater clarity in the next week, month, six weeks, and I think we'll be in a much better position to update the market and maybe recommence some form of guidance really after the summer holidays, probably in September at this stage.
Okay. In terms of the opportunities that you think you might see going forward?
Sorry, David, I missed that.
In terms of the potential M&A opportunities you might see going forward and whether they'll be accelerated and whether you're positioned to take advantage of that.
I don't think we'll see a flux of distressed sellers because of COVID. There's many reasons why people decide to sell businesses, and generally it's emotional or it's family decisions. I don't anticipate a flux of them. If something bolt-on came along and it was compelling, we could look at it. I think for me, more importantly, we're getting a CEMEX transaction with six regional businesses and the potential to improve those businesses, I believe is a significant opportunity, and that will be a focus for us. That will be our priority, David. On the side of that, we have a pipeline of acquisitions, and we'll continue to keep a pipeline of acquisitions. It's just a different challenge, keeping them alive and keeping them going along until the timing suits the company divesting and it suits us.
Okay, thanks very much.
Okay. We will now take our next question from Christian Huels . We will just bring him into the conference.
Hello, guys. Sorry, I think it just dropped off there for a second at the worst possible time. A few questions from me. I think you touched on this briefly. Just in terms of competitive dynamics that you're seeing in the market, perhaps particularly amongst the majors who may be sort of drawn in other directions, given the global nature of the crisis. One for Rob as well, just in terms of should we be aware of any sort of particular one-off cost savings or sort of costs in the first half that won't repeat or just unlikely to repeat? Just thirdly on sustainability, clearly a lot of the focus in the first half has been on the impact of COVID. I understand you guys have obviously done some good work around sustainability as well and appointed a head of sustainability.
Any color on that would be great. Thank you.
Competitive behavior. It's quite varied. I think as a lockdown, we saw different behaviors, particularly from the majors. Some of the majors locked down sort of quickly and hard as we did. Others decided to take a more cautious approach and retain people at work and maybe look for market opportunities and that's everybody's decision. For us, our priority at that point was our colleagues, and there were so many unknowns about the safety aspect of our colleagues that we felt that was right. The drop in demand validated that decision as well. I'm very happy with how we came about that. What I would say is, as we recover, I've seen no discernible change in competitive behavior in the marketplace. I wouldn't anticipate much.
From a H1 sort of one-off sort of cost saving or cost hit, Christian Huels, on the cost saving side, the one impact that is worth flagging to the market is the benefit we got from the furlough payments, and they totaled approximately GBP 11 million in the first half. I think in terms of cost, look, it's very hard. It was very much about battening down the hatches. We took the decision to not restrict our employees' pay to the furlough 80%, we topped them up to make them whole. Really, the second half is now those sorts of receipts and things should be behind us and the vast majority of our employees are back with us.
I'm afraid the third question I need to hear again because I have to admit that thinking, talking, and listening at the same time is too much of a challenge so.
Sorry. I think I can only do one of those three anyway, so you're probably ahead of me. It was just on sustainability. I suppose obviously the big focus is on the impact of COVID-19 and the recovery, but I know you guys have appointed a head of sustainability, and just any color and progress in terms of what's happening there.
It's a little early because Donna joined us, I think, on June the first, and for an initial period, Donna couldn't access the sites, and we haven't spent a lot of time together. I actually talked to Donna this morning in the corridor, and probably Rob and I will get with Donna in the next week or so. Knowing Donna from my past role at Aggregate Industries when Donna was there, I have no doubt that her progress is significant. What she did tell me, as I knew, that we have pockets of excellence throughout the business from a sustainability perspective, She sees many areas that she can grasp and drive forward and her passion will sort of flow through this business. We're excited about that.
Some of the presentations from an ESG perspective will pick up some of the benchmarking of where we are. I think it's really watch this space as we move forward. I know that the downturn in Q2 will not have an impact on our aspirations or our ability to execute those aspirations as a company. Is that vague enough?
Yeah, no, that's great. Thank you very much, guys.
Okay. Thank you. We'll now take our next question from one of the telephone lines, from a telephone number ending 949. If you could perhaps confirm your name and organization as you come in.
Thank you, Julian. It's Clyde Lewis at Peel Hunt. Apologies, you don't get a video of me this morning. I've opted to come in via my PC, which hasn't got a camera on it. You can't see me in my pajamas. A couple of questions if I can. Just, I suppose, in terms of sort of cash flow, Rob, probably more for you. Just in terms of helping us understand how some of those first half benefits, particularly in terms of the tax deferral, will unwind. You mentioned about GBP 11 million on the furlough payments. Have you actually sort of considered repaying that, like some other companies have sort of come to the conclusion of? I suppose the other one on cash, was on CapEx.
Can you just sort of update us as to where your current thoughts are on spending for the rest of the year and how you're thinking about some bigger projects that you might have in the pipeline?
Okay. Thanks, Clyde. On the working capital, on the taxes, the benefit of the tax deferrals is approximately GBP 30 million in the first half and 2/3 of that have been repaid in the third quarter, and 1/3 of those will be repayable in the first quarter of 2021. In terms of the GBP 11 million furlough payments, we are aware of companies that have made statements potentially where they've decided to repay. I think, our view is the majority of those companies, are companies that actually have not had a material reduction in profitability through the COVID-19 period. We, as you can see, have had our complete profitability wiped out by the second quarter. We do not believe we are someone that have managed to deliver the expected performance in the first half. At this stage, we have no intention to be repaying that.
I think most importantly there is we were pleased to have the government support at that time. But because of that also, certainly for the first couple of months, we were able to top our colleagues up to 100%, which I know relieved burden on many families and many households. We were only able to do that because of our colleagues' support in the past and ultimately because of government support during the job retention program as well.
I think the third question on CapEx is, we very clearly made the statement that we would restrict CapEx to committed and critical. As we've said before, we're not in a position yet to recommence market guidance. At this stage, we're still very much focused on minimizing that spend. We will update the markets in due course. As I said, hopefully in September. Until that time, we will be maintaining strong control over spending.
Thanks, Rob. Could I have one follow-up? It's always very difficult for you guys to say too much about cement market share. Obviously, your cement number was quite a bit better than ready mix, in terms of sort of the volumes for the first half. I've heard your comments about you've obviously continued to produce cement through a little bit of the lockdown, and putting some into sort of stock. Would you be able to say whether the level of imports into the U.K. have moved adversely or down, I suppose, in the last sort of three, four months to help your overall market share in the U.K.?
I think you're right that It's probably an area we shouldn't go into when you start asking us about have we improved our market share.
Okay. I thought I'd try anyway.
Clyde, there isn't that visibility. Unfortunately, with cement and because of its past, that sort of information on the sort of near- term level of imports and market shares just doesn't exist.
Okay. All right. Thanks, guys.
Thanks, Clyde. Okay, we'll now take our next question from Kevin Cammack. While we do, perhaps just a quick reminder, if anybody else wants to raise their hand, please do so to ask a question. Sorry, Kevin.
You might be on mute, Kevin.
Kevin, are you still with us, sir?
Hello? Can you hear me?
Yeah.
Yeah. Right. Let me go. Okay. I think I've got just three. One very quick qualification question. Just regarding the cement business, will you still have to do a shutdown in the second half of the year given that you obviously haven't been producing out of the plant for the whole period? Will it still be necessary to do that? Presumably that is comparable with the second half of last year in that sense, if it is done. Second question I had was just on the outstanding facilities and staff, around 10%. At what point do they come back or will they not come back? Is this potentially part of any rationalization program which you're still working on? The last question I had was really regarding CEMEX. You obviously had a little bit longer to browse the business, et c, obviously not as intently as you would like to.
Tactically, because of that and because of lockdown experience that they must have endured the same as you, do you think you'll approach the integration or the focus of what you're trying to do with CEMEX, do you think tactically that will be any different now or will it be pretty much as you've been saying previously?
If I pick up the first one, Kevin, I think at this stage, the market should just assume we have the shutdown regime as we had in 2019 with two in the first half and one in the second half. We will reassess things and when we do come back to the market with guidance, we will update the market accordingly and confirm or change that. As far as closed plants and colleagues that are still not at work, you're right, it's less. It's probably closer to 7% than 10%. What I would say now is, we'll bring back plants and people as we need them, as demand grows. I think any changes there, they're not COVID related really, they're just plant efficiencies and plant opportunities. As we continue to see volumes grow, we'll just continue to evaluate that.
That will be done on a normal protocols that Breedon over the years would use to get their operational efficiencies up. It's not a forced decision or a distressed decision. It will be a purely a business decision and we evaluate that on a weekly basis, Kevin.
Okay.
As far as CEMEX goes, tactically I don't see any change. The quality of the assets and the quality of the markets they are in, it's still there. Perhaps maybe the one change would be, clearly there's been a deterioration in their business over the three years prior to our transaction and undoubtedly during COVID, the business will have suffered some of the same issues as many of us. In pre-COVID, we would have been getting a CEMEX business that was sort of limping a little from its performance, clearly. All I'd say is, it's going into a market position now where many of its competitors are limping coming out of COVID. Perversely, the CEMEX facilities might be in a better position than it would have been relative to pre-COVID.
Still excited about the quality of assets, still excited about the quality of colleagues that's coming across. Sort of no hesitancy in looking to get the deal done. Nothing significant would change in our ability to integrate the business. Of course, subject to CMA's decision and the remedies required from that as far as divestments go, and then we can integrate. No worries.
Okay. Sorry, just to be clear, the comment you made around the CMA, they're due to report back the end of August.
Yeah.
Obviously, I suspect there might be one or two things at the edges, but fundamentally, is that then when this sort of independent management of the business, would that cease at that point?
No. We expect a decision then, which will come up with issues and will have remedies for those issues, which much like Hope will involve divestments which last August or last Christmas we talked about what we believed. I've no reason to believe it will be much different than our assessment then. I think the hold separate will continue till we execute those divestments.
Okay. Thank you.
That's always been our understanding, Kevin. No change there.
Thanks.
Okay. At this stage we don't have any more questions coming in, so I would just hand over to Steve. I'm not sure whether Steve's got any questions that come in by email or whether you'd like to wrap up.
No questions coming in from me. Thank you, everybody. Good to see you all. That concludes the event today. Just to mention that the webcast which has been recorded will be up on our site later this morning. I very much hope to see you all in person sometime soon. Thank you very much indeed.
Thank you.