REG - Staffline Group PLC - Launch of Share Buy-back

StafflineAnnouncement

25/02/2025 07:15

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RNS Number : 2804Y  Staffline Group PLC  25 February 2025

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE MARKET
ABUSE REGULATION (EU NO. 596/2014) AS IT FORMS PART OF UK DOMESTIC LAW BY
VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018 ("MAR").

 

 

25 February 2025

 

Staffline Group plc

 

("Staffline" or the "Company")

 

Launch of Share Buy-back

 

Staffline Group plc, the recruitment group, today announces that further to
the announcement regarding the sale of PeoplePlus Group Limited on 24 February
2025, it intends to commence a share buyback programme to purchase ordinary
shares of 10 pence each in the Company (the "Ordinary Shares") for up to a
maximum aggregate consideration of £7.5 million from the day of this
announcement (the "Buyback"). The Ordinary Shares purchased pursuant to the
Buyback will be cancelled.  Part of the Buyback is subject to shareholder
approval, as further detailed below.

 

The Group remains disciplined in its allocation of capital with the main
objective being to enhance shareholder value.  The Board continuously
assesses the Company's medium-term plans which take account of growth
prospects, investment in the business, cash generation, net borrowings, and
leverage.  Therefore, the amount allocated to buybacks is based on the
proceeds from the disposal of PeoplePlus Group Limited and the Board's
predicted trading cash flows and financing headroom.

 

The Buyback will be carried out in two tranches.  The first tranche will be
for up to 15,517,851 Ordinary Shares, being the unutilised proportion of the
general authority to repurchase Ordinary Shares granted by shareholders at its
annual general meeting (the "2024 AGM"), held on 22 May 2024 ("Tranche 1").
The second tranche ("Tranche 2") will be for up to 12,440,000 Ordinary Shares
and will be conditional on the Company's shareholders approving the relevant
resolution at the Company's next Annual General Meeting, which is expected to
be on or around 21 May 2025.

 

In accordance with the authority granted at the 2024 AGM, a) the aggregate
number of Ordinary Shares to be repurchased in Tranche 1 will not exceed
22,378,643 (which includes Ordinary Shares purchased by the Company in 2024),
b) the minimum price which may be paid for each Ordinary Share will be £0.10,
and c) the maximum price (excluding expenses) which may be paid for each
Ordinary Share will be the higher of: (i) an amount equal to 105 per cent of
the average of the middle market quotations for the Ordinary Shares as derived
from the AIM Appendix of the Daily Official List of London Stock Exchange plc
for the five business days immediately preceding the day on which the purchase
is made; and (ii) an amount equal to the higher of the price of the last
independent trade of an Ordinary Share and the highest current independent bid
for an Ordinary Share on the trading venue where the purchase is carried
out.  The Buyback under Tranche 2 will be subject to the same price
restrictions as Tranche 1.

 

Shareholders should be aware that a purchase of Ordinary Shares by the Company
on any trading day may represent a significant proportion of the daily trading
volume in the Ordinary Shares and could exceed 25 per cent. of the average
daily trading volume of the preceding 20 business days. Should that be the
case, the Company could exceed the pricing and/or volume restrictions as
established by the Commission Delegated Regulation 2016/1052/EU (as in force
in the UK and as amended by the FCA's Technical Standards (Market Abuse
Regulation) (EU Exit) Instrument 2019) (the "Regulation") and therefore the
Buyback may not fall within the safe harbour provisions of the Regulation.

 

As part of the Buyback, Panmure Liberum has been appointed to purchase the
Ordinary Shares as principal.

 

For further information please contact:

                               Staffline Group plc                                                            via Vigo Consulting
                               www.stafflinegroupplc.co.uk (http://www.stafflinegroupplc.co.uk)

                               Albert Ellis, Chief Executive Officer

                               Daniel Quint, Chief Financial Officer

                               Panmure Liberum (Nomad and Broker)                                             +44 (0) 20 3100 2000
                               Richard Lindley

                               Satbir Kler

 Zeus (Joint Broker)                                                                                          020 3829 5000

 www.zeuscapital.co.uk (http://www.zeuscapital.co.uk)

 David Foreman (Investment Banking)

 Nick Searle (Sales)

 Vigo Consulting (Financial PR)                                                                               020 7390 0230

 www.vigoconsulting.com (http://www.vigoconsulting.com)                                                       Staffline@vigoconsulting.com

 Jeremy Garcia / Verity Snow

 

Market Abuse Regulation:

 

For the purposes of MAR, Article 2 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU)
2016/1055 and the UK version of such implementing regulation, the person
responsible for arranging for the release of this Announcement on behalf of
the Company is Daniel Quint, Chief Financial Officer.

 

About Staffline

Staffline is one of the UK's leading Recruitment groups. It has two divisions:

 

Recruitment GB

The Recruitment GB business is a leading provider of flexible blue-collar
workers, supplying up to c.35,000 staff per day on average from around 400
sites, across a wide range of industries including supermarkets, drinks,
driving, food processing, logistics and manufacturing.

 

Recruitment Ireland

The Recruitment Ireland business is a leading end to end solutions provider
operating across multiple industries, ten branch locations and ten onsite
customer locations, supplying c.4,500 staff per day on average, and offering
RPO, MSP, temporary and permanent solutions across public and private sectors
throughout the island of Ireland.

 

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