The Company announces that in accordance with the authority granted at the Company's Annual General Meeting held on 16 June 2023, it purchased on 1 July 2024, 112,707 ordinary shares of one pence each in the capital of the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at an average price of 71.90 pence per share. These shares will be held by the Company in treasury.
Following this transaction, the Company holds 1,313,669 Ordinary Shares in treasury and has 564,927,536 Ordinary Shares in issue, including those in treasury. Therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 563,613,867 and accordingly that figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for calculations of interests in the Company's voting rights in accordance with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.