Richard Friedland
Group CEO & Executive Director

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and a very warm welcome to Netcare Limited's Interim Group Results Presentation for the 6 months ended the 31st of March 2026. May I welcome our Chair of Netcare, Alex Maditse, members of the Netcare Board, my colleagues and senior management teams. Let me, at the outset, express my very sincere thanks to our management teams and Netcare staff across all of our divisions for their incredibly hard work, collective efforts and commitment over the past 6 months and also thanks to our Board for their support and sage guidance.

This past week, we had the very great pleasure of announcing Melanie Da Costa as Netcare's new CEO. Melanie will be appointed CEO-elect from the 1st of June and work closely alongside me before fully taking over the reins on the 1st of January 2027. At the Board's request, I will then remain a strategic adviser to the Board and Melanie from January to June of 2027. Melanie is an exceptional leader and a person of deep integrity.

Over the past 20 years, I have watched her grow from establishing our health policy unit to becoming one of the most respected voices in South African health care. She understands Netcare, our people, our purpose, our strategy and the contribution we make to our country. I know I leave Netcare in very safe hands, and I am so delighted to hand over the leadership of Netcare to Melanie with absolute confidence in her ability and that of our teams to take this organization to even greater heights.