Staffline shares sink as board addresses Thursday peak

(Sharecast News) - Recruitment and training company Staffline responded to a spike in its share price on Friday, reporting that it was not aware of any reason for the price movement.

The AIM-traded firm's shares rocketed to a peak of just under 51p on Thursday, before closing the session at 49p.

It noted that on 27 April, it confirmed "good progress" had been made on agreeing a revised financing structure for its main banking facilities.

On Friday, it said progress had continued, with the board saying it expected to agree and implement a revised financing structure ahead of the publication of its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December.

"The company currently expects to publish audited preliminary results for the year ended 31 December shortly, and will confirm a date in due course," the directors said in their statement.

"While the audit work is yet to be finalised, the board now expects to report a small underlying EBITA loss for 2019, and pre-IFRS 16 net debt of £59.5m as at 31 December 2019."

As it had previously disclosed, Staffline was benefiting from HMRC's measures designed to support businesses in light of the Covid-19 crisis, particularly with respect to VAT deferral, which had "significantly improved" its liquidity through the end of 2020.

"The full report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2019 is now expected to be published and sent to shareholders in July."

As a result, Staffline had applied for an extension to the current reporting deadline of 30 June, which was granted in accordance with the temporary measures put in place amid the Covid crisis.

At 1501 BST, shares in Staffline Group were down 25.77% at 36p.