We've got the thumbs up from the back of the room, which means the telephones are online. I think we can kick off. Good morning. Thank you all for coming. I know you've got a very busy day today as we sort of kick off the interim results season in our sector. Welcome. Normal agenda for today. We are really pleased with the performance in the first half and delighted to present a good set of results to you all. I'm going to begin with a little bit of an overview. Situl will then take you through the financial review. I'll give you a little bit more detail about what's going on in the portfolio, and then we'll finish with a summary and outlook. Andrea and Michelle will join for Q&A. A very successful first half. We've delivered strong performance with an increase in rents, values, income, and dividends, while strengthening our financial position and creating significant opportunity for the group. You will all be aware that macroeconomic issues continue to impact the economy, and these are well documented. However, I'm pleased to report that conditions across the West End's occupational market remain very active indeed. We continue to see positive trends in footfall and sales across our Prime West End portfolio, with the team successfully leasing well ahead of ERV, with excellent levels of activity, limited vacancy, and a strong pipeline. During the period, we're pleased to have formed a £2.7 billion long-term partnership on Covent Garden with the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, NBIM, which highlights the fundamental value and attractiveness of our portfolio. We continue to expand the portfolio with £55 million of acquisitions during the period, and we have a number of properties currently under review. With enhanced liquidity, we're well positioned to take advantage of market opportunities as they arise. The West End continues to thrive as the premier destination for culture, retail, dining, leisure, and entertainment, attracting some 200 million visitors a year. Shaftesbury Capital's irreplaceable portfolio of properties located at the heart of the West End provides the prospect of high occupancy, low capital requirements, and reliable, growing long-term cash flows. Our deep customer relationships and creative approach enable us to achieve value creation in must-have locations across the West End. Just turning to some of the highlights of the results, valuation increased 3% like-for-like to £5.2 billion, and this was led by a 2.9% increase in ERV with stable valuation yields. NTA increased 3.3%, resulting in total accounting return of 4.2% for the period, which is in line with our medium-term targets. Rental income increased by 8%, with underlying earnings up 16% for the half year. The board has declared an interim dividend of £1.9 per share. We have a strong balance sheet and access to significant liquidity with low leverage. I think the performance over the period demonstrates the exceptional qualities of our portfolio, delivering growth in cash rents, dividends, ERV, and valuation. I'll hand over to Situl just to take you through the detail of the financial review. Thank you, Ian. Good morning, everyone. As you've heard, there has been significant progress across the business. H1 financial performance was positive, with growth in rental income, earnings, dividends, valuations, and net tangible assets. We strengthened our balance sheet and enhanced the group's financial flexibility. Following the sale of a 25% interest in Covent Garden to Norges Bank Investment Management, we present the numbers here on a proportionately consolidated basis. As a transaction completed midway through the period, Covent Garden is effectively included at 75% from Q2 onwards. The IFRS numbers set out in the results announcement consolidate Covent Garden in full, with a one-line adjustment for the non-controlling 25% interest. During the period, there was a gross cash inflow to the group of £574 million. Starting with the income statement, gross rents increased to £98.7 million, up 8.2% like for like, reflecting a successful period of leasing and asset management. In aggregate, commercial lettings and renewals were 10% ahead of ERV and 24% ahead of previous passing rents. Management fee income in respect of the 25% of Covent Garden owned by our partner forms most of the other income of £1.1 million. Administration costs of £20.4 million reflect the effect of ongoing efficiencies and an increased share option charge, which was up £2.5 million compared with H1 last year. Further income growth and operational efficiencies are targeted for H2 and future periods. Finance costs have been reduced to £23.7 million as a result of interest income on cash and lower net debt. Underlying earnings increased by 16% to £40.6 million, equivalent to £2.2 per share. We have increased the interim dividend to £1.9. Our leasing and asset management activity contributed to an increase in ERV of 2.9% over the period to £260.8 million. As illustrated in the chart, there's the opportunity to grow passing rents significantly. There is embedded reversion in our portfolio and good visibility on the income growth potential in each of our locations. In particular, £18.7 million of income is contracted or relates to rent-free periods, the majority of which will convert to running income over the coming months. Turning to the balance sheet, the market value of the portfolio under management was up 3.1% like for like to £5.2 billion. Net debt has been taken down from £1.4 billion- £0.8 billion on a group share basis and results in loan-to-value of 17%. NTA per share was up 3.3% over the period to £2.07, driven primarily by the valuation movement. The main driver for the increase in property valuations was rental growth. ERV was up across all sectors and in all of our estates. The equivalent yield is unchanged at 4.5% overall and 4.6% for commercial assets. Average ERV for the portfolio is £95 per square foot, and overall valuations are now at £1,893 per square foot. We estimate that customer sales are some 30% higher in nominal terms than 2019 levels, significantly outstripping ERVs. This underlines the relative affordability and attractiveness of our estates. The balance sheet is in a strong position with low leverage and access to significant liquidity. As well as reducing loan-to-value, net debt to EBITDA has been enhanced, now at a multiple of 6 versus 11 times previously. With leverage well within our indicated range, this provides flexibility to deploy proceeds towards growing our business through investment in existing assets and new opportunities, both in Covent Garden and across Chinatown, Soho, and Carnaby. During the period, we repaid part of the Canada Life term loan and are positioned in due course for the repayment of £275 million of exchangeable bonds, which mature in 2026. We will continue to review financing opportunities, taking advantage of the attractive credit profile of the group. To summarize, there has been strong financial performance in the first half, and we have enhanced flexibility. We will continue to focus on our priority areas: one, rental growth and further efficiencies, resulting in higher earnings and dividends; two, deploying capital accretively; and three, maintaining balance sheet strength and flexibility. I will now hand back to Ian. Thanks, Situl. A little bit of a recap on the portfolio. As you know, we've got an impossible-to-replicate portfolio of properties. These are some of the most iconic destinations in London's West End. They're focused on Covent Garden, Carnaby, Soho, and Chinatown. It's a £5.2 billion portfolio under management. It comprises approximately 2.7 million square feet of lettable space across about 640, mainly freehold buildings, and there's some 1,900 individual tenancies. The portfolio is broadly one-third retail, one-third F&B, and the balance is in the upper floors, which offer office and residential accommodation. We have a diverse occupier mix and therefore have a wide range of income streams and a wide range of unit sizes and rental tones. As I mentioned, leasing activity has been particularly positive, with strong occupational demand. We're noticing that tenants tend to prioritize the best locations, and we've achieved leasing success right throughout the portfolio with continued ERV growth. This slide shows some of the new brands that the team's introduced, and they range from independent to global concepts. They're generally attracted by the seven days a week footfall and trading environment that we offer. In total, some 193 new leasing transactions completed, £19.2 million of contracted rent, about 9% ahead of the December 2024 ERV, and pleasingly 16% ahead of previous passing rents. Portfolio vacancy is low at 2.5%. The team takes a very active and creative approach, which is informed by a very deep knowledge of what's going on in the West End, and it does position the company to deliver rental growth through converting the portfolio's embedded reversionary potential into contracted income. A little bit about the subsectors. Very strong retail market. We've recorded particularly strong demand across the range of activities with generally positive trading conditions. We've noticed very good performance from some of the more productive categories, such as premium, lifestyle, and accessories. In recent months, we've welcomed a number of new brands to Carnaby Street, which we're particularly pleased about as we enhance and evolve the offer there. Charlotte Tilbury will open a new flagship on Carnaby Street later this year, and this follows their recent upsizing to a new flagship on the corner of the Piazza at Covent Garden. Covent Garden, in turn, continues to attract high-quality brands, including Nespresso and Tula, to name but a couple. These were introduced during the first half of the year. All of this has contributed to a 4% improvement in retail ERV across the portfolio. We're home to around 391 individual food and beverage outlets. I think operators are attracted by the vibrant locations, the pedestrian-friendly environment that we provide, and the managed estate feeling that they have by being one of our customers. There have been a number of signings across Covent Garden. These include Harry's Restaurant and Bar, which will open on a flagship site at the Piazza. There continues to be strong demand in Soho, with many new signings through the period. In Chinatown, we've introduced more variety to the area. We've increased the Pan-Asian offer at a range of different price points. Across the portfolio, about 21 new lettings in total and renewals signed about 18.8% ahead of December 2024 ERV. It's those vibrant locations and the quality of accommodation and management that continues to generate demand for office leasing. Carnaby and Covent Garden offer high amenity value, excellent environmental credentials, and we're continuing to lease in excess of £100 a square foot with positive demand. During the period, we also entered into 100 new residential transactions, and these were achieved at rents about 3% ahead of previous passing levels. We've got a strong pipeline of asset management opportunities and refurbishment initiatives across the portfolio. About 4.5% of ERV is currently under refurbishment, and it's expected that these properties will be delivered in the coming 12 to 18 months. We also continue to rotate assets within and out of the portfolio as we continue to enhance the quality of the overall portfolio. This year, we disposed of around £12 million worth of assets, while investing approximately £55 million in target acquisitions in Soho and Covent Garden. As I mentioned earlier, we've got a number of properties currently under review. As you know, during the period, we did introduce sovereign capital to the Covent Garden portfolio, and partnering with NBIM leverages our operational expertise and our property portfolio as we enhance investment and expansion opportunities in years to come. In summary, we've had a successful first half of the year, and positive momentum is being carried into the second half. Notwithstanding those macroeconomic challenges, the West End continues to perform strongly with high footfall and low vacancy. There are excellent levels of activity and a strong leasing pipeline. Our partnership with NBIM brings together two long-term investors with shared confidence in and ambitions for the growth of Covent Garden. Shaftesbury Capital's irreplaceable portfolio is anticipated to deliver sustainable income and value growth. Our active approach and the positive market fundamentals of the West End give us confidence in our medium-term targets of 5%- 7% rental growth. With stable yields, we anticipate that this should deliver accounting returns of 8%- 10%. With that enhanced liquidity, we will pursue accretive opportunities for investment and expansion of assets under management. Backed by a strong balance sheet, we're well positioned to grow the business and take advantage of market opportunities in the West End. That concludes the formal remarks. Thank you for listening. For those of you that are on the lines, if you'd like to ask a question, please let the operator know, and they'll let us know, and we'll come to you. If anybody has a burning question from the room, we'd be delighted to answer it. Who'd like to go first? Stunned silence. Matt? Morning. It's Matthew Saperia from Peel Hunt LLP. One quick one from me. Ian, I know you talked about introducing Charlotte Tilbury to Carnaby. Clearly, there's already some momentum in terms of re-energizing and some re-tenancing going on there. Just how important could that addition to Carnaby be to, I guess, push on the next phase of the re-tenancing of Carnaby? Because, I mean, the ERV growth's obviously been very strong in the second half. I'm guessing there is good momentum beyond that. Yeah, look, we're really pleased with progress so far. I mean, the response from the customer, from our tenants, has been really positive to what we're trying to achieve, which is to introduce forward-looking brands in categories that are going to generate higher sales densities. Charlotte Tilbury is a great example of that. We're particularly pleased that that's an upsizing from within the overall portfolio. That is a theme that we're seeing across all three of our locations, where a number of tenants are taking second or third locations or introducing additional brands from their stable. In addition to Charlotte Tilbury, we've had four or five brands that have opened up on the southern end of Carnaby. I'm sure you shop at Farm Rio quite regularly, and you'll be a major user of Pure Soul, who are a really cool K-beauty brand. I'm sure it's right up your street, Matt. We're really excited about that. You can see that the consumers have got much more choice now. Also, some of the existing customers like MAC, they're opening new concepts as well. I think when you see the changes at Kingly Court and over the medium to longer term, the improvements that the team have got planned for the streetscape, I think it'll be a really exciting destination. We're really, really looking forward to good rental growth over the next three to five years. Zach? Yeah, thanks. Just speak. Yeah, thanks. Morning, everyone. It's Zachary Gauge from UBS. A couple of questions. On the like-for-like rental growth, you saw retail was marginally negative. Obviously, a bit of a surprise. If we could just touch on what some of the moving parts were in the like-for-like number. On the debt side, obviously, you're expecting to pay the exchangeable bond with cash. You've still got the PPN, £163 million, at 2.7% expiring next year. If you could just touch on what the plans are for that and what you expect the interest rate might be if you do refinance that or pay it down with cash. Also, with a substantial cash balance, if you could touch on what your sort of interest rate is, do we just assume sort of base rate minus a little bit of margin for that going forward? Thanks. I'll answer the easy bit. I mean, the retail market's very strong. I wouldn't read too much into the small technicalities of that. It's really a function of what goes on in the particular period. I would say that I'm sure Michelle would agree, it's probably the strongest retail market we've seen now. That's been a feature for the last 18 months. That continues to generate very strong demand for our three locations. We're particularly interesting at the moment in the new brand lineup that we're anticipating or the additions we're anticipating in Carnaby Street. Yeah, on the balance sheet, great to be in the position we're in because it gives us a lot of flexibility and a lot of optionality. At the same time, we have access to a number of different markets, which is very encouraging as well. Spreads seem to be coming in, which is a good indicator. In terms of the specifics on the exchangeable bond, our assumption is, or our base case is, that we will repay that next year. In the meantime, it's a good piece of financing. It's a 2% cash coupon. On the private placements, remember they sit within the Covent Garden business, which we now own 75%. That market is very much open. Whether it's the bank market, PP market, or other markets for Covent Garden, we think that's absolutely accessible. Expect to hear more on that over the coming months. We think Covent Garden has very low leverage, so it will be a very attractive credit for any lender. As far as the cash is concerned, we generate interest income marginally below the base rate. Anybody on the telephone? Yes, we have one person on the telephone. I'd like to hand over to Saskia. Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question on the telephone, please signal by pressing star one. We do have a question from Rob Jones from Exane BNP Paribas. Please go ahead. Morning. Thank you. I had three. One was on, do you want me to go all three or do one at a time? Yeah, go through all three and then give us time to think about them, Rob. All right. The first one's on reversionary potential. You talk about, or you talked about the embedded reversionary potential and converting that into contracted income. Appreciate you made the point that you've got customer sales up 30% in nominal terms versus 19%. ERV is obviously down too. Given your reversion of 25% or a bit less, say 21%, if I hold portfolio vacancy constant, I could quite easily take the view that we can capture all that reversion and rents in nominal terms are still more affordable from a tenant perspective, given how much retailer sales have moved on in the last five and a half, six years. Is there a bit more of a nuance to that, though, in thinking, you know, what has tenant profitability done over that time since 2019? Therefore, are we still super comfortable in the capacity for that tenant to pay up in terms of capturing that reversion and obviously marking the portfolio to market over the next coming years? Second question was around balance sheet. Obviously, appreciate leverage down substantially post the £600 million NBIM transaction. It's naturally, as it is always the case for your portfolio, not that easy to reinvest capital because you're very selective about opportunities. They only come up on a relatively irregular basis in terms of acquisitions, for example. Should we think about the portfolio leverage as remaining at that six, seven, eight times net debt to EBITDA in the shorter term with a sub-20% loan-to-value, or is there genuine opportunity, say, on a 12-month view to reinvest? The final one, Situl, just a clarification, £18.7 million of contracted uplifts. You said as rent freeze burn off. I think you said in the coming months. Did I get that wrong in terms of that timeframe? Thanks. Thanks very much, Rob. Good questions. I think the first one is the embedded reversion is really the difference between passing rent and the ERV effectively. The ERV for the portfolio under management, I don't know why I'm looking at the speaker, but the ERV for the portfolio under management is now about £260 million. Obviously, the ERV should continue to grow. If you look at the long-term trend over the last 30-odd years or so, barring a hiccup during COVID, you've generally had rental growth for hospitality and retail in the West End of 3% or 4%. It's really a function of London GDP plus inflation. It's a very resilient asset class. The ERV is not a forecast. It's what the valuers think the rent should be today if everything was available to let. The difference between passing at £225 million and £260 million, that should burn through relatively quickly. The ERV should continue to grow. What we've found over the years is that by an active approach to managing the mix, then you'll get an ERV growth trajectory above that long-term average. That can be very high during a period of repositioning. I think in the early days of Covent Garden, we saw ERV growth of 12%- 14% over sort of a two to three-year period. We're seeing a similar sort of opportunity in Carnaby whilst we're still delivering quite significant ERV growth, as you've seen from the numbers across all parts of the portfolio. It takes a while for that to be recognized by the valuers in the valuation. You should get top-line ERV growth over time. That should be captured relatively straightforwardly in the reversions as leases fall due. We have about 20% of the leases are marked to market, if you like, every year. That sort of also answers the last question. Some of that reversionary income is already contracted through rent freeze that we've already entered into. On top of the £225 million, you'll get about £18 million, which will burn through quite quickly, probably over the next 12 to 15 months or so. The balance of that to the £260 million will take a little bit longer. I think we're in really good shape. If you look at the ERV improvements on the transactions over the last two years, they've consistently been ahead of the mean and very good first half this year. The other component of the improvement in nominal sales relative to ERV is quite interesting. It generally means that obviously some of the cost base has gone up in different parts of the portfolio for occupiers. It means that the portfolio as a whole is more affordable. That's good for us because we're trying to pick this growth up over the medium to long term rather than just on an annualized basis. We're really pleased with the trajectory of the portfolio at the moment. Just to provide a bit more color on that. Can I just ask a quick follow-up? Yeah. It was just on, Ian, your point you made around 3% - 4% kind of long-term London retail hospitality rental growth. When I think on page three of your press release about the comment where you say confidence in target 5%- 7% ERV growth, should I think of the delta between the 3%- 4% and the 5%- 7% as your London micro locations' ability to curate a mix that drives stronger growth as the drives between that delta? I'd like you to give us all the credit for that, Rob, but I don't think that would be fair. I mean, the West End's actually doing quite well at the moment. I think the West End currently is above the mean because vacancy has reduced so significantly over the last 18 months. You've gone from very high vacancy levels to below 5% now for the premium locations. The whole of the West End's doing well. I think with my colleagues sitting here, I have to give them some credit for the outperformance to the West End mean. That's what we try and do. That's really by being quite careful about the environments that we curate and trying always to find the best-in-class brands that are going to have the most resonance with the consumer. That's worked very well within our location so far, whether it's introducing a broader range of Asian cuisine in Chinatown or whether it's introducing higher value, higher density cosmetics. In Covent Garden, we've seen very high sales densities as a result of introducing premium watch and jewelry. There are lots of things that we can do. With the coverage that we've got and that customer relationship and knowledge that we've got about the market and the consumer, I think we're well positioned to outperform the long-term trend and also outperform the short-term West End trend, which is currently the case. I think your other question was about balance sheet leverage. To provide a bit of input for your modeling as well, Rob, on that comment about contracted and rent freeze, you should assume something like two-thirds of that will burn off over the next six to nine months. Onto the balance sheet, yes, we've acquired £55 million or so of assets. We're looking at a few other things. The kind of pipeline is quite good. I think more broadly on leverage, the kind of starting point is that we would like to maintain net debt to EBITDA well below 10. We're at 6. That gives us quite a lot of room. We've got a kind of printed, if you like, LTV upper limit of 40%. I think in the near term, that's more likely to be 20%- 30% and probably in the lower half of that. What we're actually thinking about as we kind of approach balance sheet and liquidity management is also solving for a finance cost number, which is consistent with earnings growth. It's all of those things. Sure. crystal, thanks so much, guys. Okay, thanks. Very good questions. Any more on the phones? At the breaking hour, that is star one for any questions over the telephone. I think that means no. Would anybody else like to ask a question in the room? No, I think that's great. We're just over half an hour, which I think is nearly a record. We know you've got a really busy day and a busy couple of weeks before you disappear off whatever you're doing in the summer. Thank you very much for coming. Really appreciate your attendance and your support. If you do have any follow-up questions, then obviously you know where we are. You're all very welcome to come and see us in Covent Garden and Carnaby and Chinatown anytime. We live above the shop. It's quite a nice shop. It's called Tiffany. We're always available to show you around. If you'd like to walk the estate, we're delighted to host you. Thank you very much for attending.