Staffline Regulatory News (STAF)

For immediate release 19 May 2011

STAFFLINE GROUP PLC

("Staffline" or "the Group")

AGM TRADING STATEMENT

&

UPDATE ON BOARD STRUCTURE

AGM TRADING STATEMENT

Staffline, the national outsourcing organisation providing people and operational expertise to industry, issues the following statement on trading which will be given at the Group's Annual General Meeting which will be held at 10.00am this morning. 

At the meeting Andy Hogarth, Chief Executive of the Group, will make the following statement on current trading:

"As mentioned at the time of the Fourstar acquisition, at the end of April, trading for the first quarter of 2011 has been ahead of budget and this trend has continued during April with the Group showing good growth against the prior year's trading. It remains too early to draw firm conclusions about the year as a whole, particularly as we move into the second half of the year with tougher comparables to the prior year, however, the Board are confident that the Group will comfortably meet market expectations. This has been supported by strong demand for our OnSite offering and the increased need for temporary workforces by our clients.

We recently announced the acquisition of Birmingham based Fourstar Employment & Skills Ltd and we have begun the process of integrating this into the Group. Though it is still early in the integration process we are very pleased with the business and people at Fourstar and we look forward to providing further updates in due course. Fourstar will sit well alongside our existing core services of outsourcing and training and will provide further diversification to Staffline's business."

UPDATE ON BOARD STRUCTURE

Following the Annual General meeting Staffline today also announces that in line with the next phase of its growth strategy and in order to maintain the highest standards of corporate governance the Board has decided to split the role of Chairman and Chief Executive. John Crabtree, previously the Senior Independent Director, will assume the role of Non-executive Chairman with Andy Hogarth continuing in his role as Chief Executive. John Crabtree will start his role with immediate effect.

John Crabtree joined the Board on 1 March 2005 as a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee. John also sits on the Audit Committee & Nominations Committee.

John currently holds a number of non-executive positions including Non-Executive Chairman of Real Estate Investors plc, SLR Holdings Limited and TruckEast Ltd. In addition, John is a director of Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre Trust and Advantage West Midlands.

Commenting Andy Hogarth, Staffline's Chief Executive, said:

"I am delighted John will be taking on the position of Non-executive Chairman, providing the Board with the additional support as we move into the next phase of our growth strategy." 

About Staffline

Staffline Group plc is a recruitment organisation specializing in food processing, manufacturing, e-retail and logistics. Staffline provides and manages industrial workforces and uses training and business improvement techniques to ensure increased levels of efficiency to give their clients a significant commercial advantage. Operating from over 150 locations in the UK, Staffline supply up to 22,500 blue collar workers each day. Brands include Staffline Express; the High Street branch operation; OnSite based on clients' premises; Peter Rowley a national training and consultancy organisation; OSP a specialist volume recruitment call centre; and FourStar one of the three preferred Work Programme providers for the Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country regions.