Gattaca Regulatory News (GATC)

29 January 2020

Gattaca plc

("Gattaca" or "the Company")

Trading Update

Gattaca plc, the specialist Engineering and Technology recruitment solutions business, provides the following trading update.

Following a review by the Board of the outlook for the business for its financial year ending 31 July 2020 ("FY20"), it now expects the Company's continuing underlying profit before tax to be approximately £6.0 million, which is below current market expectations*.

Gattaca experienced a challenging environment across the staffing market, driven by the economic and political climate in the UK for the first five months of FY20 (August to December 2019) which has resulted in net fee income 11% lower than the same period last year. The market has not recovered as quickly as expected and short-term growth remains uncertain, despite the decisive result in December's General Election. The timing of UK investment in major infrastructure projects is still not clear and certain manufacturing, automotive and rail sectors continue to be impacted by a lack of confidence. In addition, there is continued uncertainty surrounding IR35.

The Board remains confident that the actions the Company has been taking, including the implementation of our ongoing Improvement Plan, will position Gattaca well for growth when market conditions improve. Nevertheless, in the short term, costs will be kept under close review.

Gattaca will announce its interim results for the six months ending 31 January 2020 on 31 March 2020.

* Consensus expectations for underlying PBT are £10.0m.

The information communicated in this announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article. 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.

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