SECG.L Regulatory News (SECG)

6 April 2020

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). With the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

SEC Newgate S.p.A.

 ("SEC Newgate", the "Group" or the "Company")

NOTICE OF GROUP CFO CHANGE

BUSINESS AND CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

The Board of SEC Newgate, the international communications, advocacy and research group, today announces the appointment of Sergio Penna as Group Financial Officer. This follows the decision of Federico Vecchio, currently Chief Financial Officer, to step down for personal reasons. Mr Vecchio was not a member of the Group Board.

Mr Penna will join the Group on 1 June 2020 in order to ensure an effective handover with Mr Vecchio, who will be leaving on 30 June 2020. It is intended Mr Penna will join the Board of SEC Newgate during the Autumn of 2020.

Mr Penna qualified as a chartered auditor in 2005 with Mazars S.p.A. and holds a degree in economics from Luigi Bocconi University in Milan. He brings to the Group extensive financial experience gained in a number of multinational organisations. His most recent role was as Finance Manager at MotorK, an Italian based multinational which specialises in providing hi-tech services to the car industry in operations across Europe. Prior to that, he held accounting and financial positions with Amazon, Celio, BDO and WeiserMazar, in Italy, France and the US. In addition to Italian, Mr Penna is fluent in both English and French.

Commenting, John Foley, Chairman of SEC Newgate S.p.A., said:

"On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Federico for the significant contribution he has made during the initial stages of the Group's evolution following the successful SEC Newgate merger, which became effective on 4 September 2019. We wish him every success in his future endeavours.

We are fortunate Sergio is able to join us in June so an effective handover of Federico's responsibilities can take place. Sergio has the knowledge and experience to add considerable value to the Group as its CFO and we look forward to working with him."

Business and coronavirus ("CV-19") update

The Group made an excellent start to the current financial year, generating a very healthy level of new business wins and performing at above budget profit levels. However, we anticipate the level of future activity will be adversely affected to varying degrees in individual countries where we operate depending on the severity of CV-19. Our operations have reduced all discretionary spend and we are in the process of assessing the likely three-month position in the changed circumstances that we face, including the availability of assistance from Government financing initiatives. In the meantime, our service offering has been recalibrated and a best practice exchange setup for our specialists across the Group to share initiatives to support our clients in protecting their market share and brand equity in the CV-19 environment and beyond.

The Group has committed banking facilities available with maintainable covenants and enjoys excellent relationships with its lenders to support the Group through this difficult period. It also benefits from the recent Euro 2.5m Convertible Bond issue and a new Euro 3m four-year banking facility with Deutsche Bank S.P.A announced in December 2019.

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Notes to Editors about SEC Newgate

· Further information is available at www.secnewgate.com

· On 3 September 2019, SEC S.p.A. and Porta Communications Plc merged to create SEC Newgate S.p.A. 

· The Group's principal brands are: ACH SEC Global (Spain); Cambre Associates (Belgium); Cambre Maroc (Morocco); Clai (France); Kohl PR (Germany); Martis Consulting (Poland); SEC Latam (Colombia); Newgate Communications (Abu Dhabi, Australia, Greater China, Singapore, UK); Newington (UK); Publicasity (UK); SEC Newgate S.p.A. (Italy); and 2112 (UK).