Johnson Service Regulatory News (JSG)

7 May 2026

TIDM: JSG

Johnson Service Group PLC

("JSG" or "the Group")

AGM Statement

Launch of £55.0 million Share Buyback Programme

Ahead of its Annual General Meeting to be held later today, JSG, a leading textile services provider in the UK and Republic of Ireland, provides the following update:

Current Trading

Group revenue in the first three months of the year increased by 1.4% to £123.0 million (2025: £121.4 million), with organic revenue growth contributing 0.7%.

Within Workwear, organic revenue growth of 3.9% in the first quarter reflects encouraging sales momentum, to both new and existing customers, and the implementation of price increases.

HORECA organic revenue softened slightly to (0.6%) in the first quarter. As previously highlighted, price increases and contract renewals remain challenging and, alongside the ongoing regional and sector variations experienced in 2025, we continue to see some market churn, particularly within the independent hotel and restaurant sector.

Cost Management

We have continued to proactively manage ongoing cost inflation pressures, particularly in relation to labour, through a combination of resource management to maximise productivity, price increases and capital investment, focused on delivery of improved operational efficiencies and lower energy usage.

In relation to energy, we continued to forward fix prices on a rolling basis in-line with our policy. This provides a high degree of certainty over energy costs for the coming months and means that they do not immediately reflect increases, or reductions, in spot prices.

For 2026, we have fixed approximately 85% of our anticipated electricity usage, 90% of our anticipated gas usage and hedged some 70% of our anticipated diesel requirement. Looking ahead to 2027, we have fixed approximately 60% and 70% of our anticipated electricity and gas usage, respectively, and will lock-in further prices as opportunities allow.

Financing

We have completed the refinance of our committed revolving credit facility, increasing it from £135.0 million to £175.0 million with, subject to lender consent, a further £50.0 million accordion option. The new facility matures in April 2030, with an option to extend for a further year with lender consent. Bank covenants remain unchanged, comprising leverage (net debt to adjusted EBITDA) of less than three times and interest cover of at least four times. The margin on the refinanced facility remains linked to our leverage covenant and has reduced to a range of 1.30% to 2.30% over the relevant SONIA or EURIBOR rate, as applicable. The current margin is 1.30%.

Capital Structure and Share Buyback

The Group's medium to long-term intention is to maintain a capital structure such that we target leverage of 1.0x - 1.5x, other than for short-term specific exceptions. Under this framework, our capital allocation policy remains unchanged and takes into account: maintaining a strong balance sheet; investing in our estate to increase efficiency; appropriate accretive acquisitions; upholding a progressive dividend policy; and, to the extent that there remains surplus cash, distributing it to Shareholders.

Accordingly, the Board is pleased to confirm that, in addition to the £90.3 million returned to Shareholders through share buybacks since 2022, it intends to launch a further £55.0 million share buyback programme. Further details of the programme will be announced separately today.

The Board will continue to actively review its options on capital allocation, evaluating the balance between investing in our acquisition strategy, organic growth ambitions and returns to Shareholders.

Balance Sheet

Net debt, including IFRS 16 liabilities, was £161.9 million at the end of March 2026 (December 2025: £159.2 million) and is expected to increase to some £195.0 million at June 2026, reflective of the timing of dividend payments, the share buyback programme that will be announced separately today, working capital movements and capital expenditure, with leverage towards the lower end of our target range.

Leverage at the year-end is expected to be similar to June 2026, reflective of the Group's increased cash generation in the second half of the year, which is typically higher than in the first half as a result of summer trading, being offset by the impact of the share buyback programme.

Outlook

We have a well invested business with a strong balance sheet and a highly cash generative model, allowing us to capitalise on further earnings enhancing opportunities as they arise.

We have yet to see any material impact of the ongoing geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East, the intensity or duration of which we are unable to predict. Given what we know currently, we expect any cost consequences in 2026 to be manageable.

Whilst HORECA has experienced a slower start to the year in a challenging market environment, we expect normal seasonality to support improved volumes over the summer months.

The Board continues to expect to deliver another year of progress and margin improvement and, therefore, we remain on track towards achieving our targeted adjusted operating margin of at least 14.0% in 2026.