Statement of Directors' Responsibilities in Respect of the Annual Report and the Financial Statements

The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report, the Directors' Remuneration Report, and the Group and Parent Company financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the Directors to prepare Group and Parent Company financial statements for each financial year. Under that law they are required to prepare the Group financial statements in accordance with applicable law and International Financial reporting Standards (IFRSs) as adopted by the European Union (EU) and have elected to prepare the Parent Company financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom (UK) Accounting Standards (UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Under company law, the Directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Group and Parent Company and of their profit or loss for that period. In preparing each of the Group and Parent Company financial statements, the Directors are required to:

• select appropriate accounting policies and apply them consistently;
• make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
• for the Group financial statements, state whether they have been prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the EU;
• for the Parent Company financial statements, state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the Parent Company financial statements; and
• prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Group and the Parent Company will continue in business.

The Directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Group's and Parent Company's transactions, disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Group and the Parent Company, and enable them to ensure that its financial statements and the Directors' Remuneration Report comply with the Companies Act 2006 and, as regards the Group financial statements, Article 4 of the IAS Regulation. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Parent Company and Group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Directors' Responsibility Statement

Each of the Directors as at the date of the Annual Report, whose names and functions are set out in the Board of Directors, confirm that to the best of his/her knowledge:

1. the Group financial statements, prepared in accordance with the IFRSs as adopted by the EU, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Parent Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole;
2. the Strategic Report includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Parent Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face; and
3. the Annual Report and Financial Statements, taken as a whole, are fair, balanced and understandable and provide the information necessary for shareholders to assess the Company's performance, business model and strategy.

Approved by the Board and signed on its behalf by: