Staffline Regulatory News (STAF)

8 January 2019

STAFFLINE GROUP PLC

("Staffline" or "the Group")

Trading Update

Staffline, the Recruitment and Training group, is pleased to report that trading for the financial year ended 31 December 2018 is expected to be in line with market expectations.

Revenues are anticipated to be c. 18% higher than the £957.8 million reported for 2017. The Recruitment division has continued to grow, with the acquisitions completed during the year performing ahead of management expectations. The investment in technology by the Group has also created a clear differentiation in our recruitment offering and is delivering strong traction across Staffline's customer base. The PeoplePlus division has now successfully transitioned into the UK's leading Skills and Training provider, making good progress in the year. The apprenticeship levy continues to present an excellent opportunity for growth in this area, and, along with Prison Education contract wins, is offsetting the reduced activity from the run-off of the Work Programme.

As part of the completion of the transformation of the Group's PeoplePlus division away from reliance on the Work Programme, significant one-off costs have been incurred in 2018, which the Group has classified as exceptional items in 2018. No further exceptional costs relating to the end of the Work Programme are expected in 2019. Excluding amortisation charges on intangible assets arising on business combinations and non-cash charges for share-based payment costs, total exceptional costs will be £20 million in 2018, principally due to the aforementioned PeoplePlus transformation. Whilst the Group remains highly cash generative, these costs, together with the consideration paid for acquisitions in the second half of the year, have resulted in an increase in net debt to c. £63 million as at 31 December 2018.

Staffline will announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2018 on Wednesday 30 January 2019. A presentation for analysts will be held at 9.30am on the morning of the results at the offices of Berenberg, 60 Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8HP.

A presentation for private investors will be held at 3.00pm on Thursday 31 January 2019, also at the offices of Berenberg, 60 Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8HP. Admittance is strictly limited to those who register their attendance in advance of the event. To register, please contact Vigo Communications on 020 7390 0230 or staffline@vigocomms.com.

Market Abuse Regulation

This announcement is released by Staffline Group plc and contains inside information for the purposes of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 ("MAR") and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR. The person who arranged for the release of this announcement on behalf of Staffline Group plc was Michael Watts, Group Chief Financial Officer.

Next trading update

The Group's next scheduled announcement of financial information will be the preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2018 on Wednesday 30 January 2019.

Note for Editors

About Staffline - Recruitment, Training and Support

Enabling the Future of Work™

Staffline is the UK's market leading Recruitment and Training group. It has two divisions:

Recruitment Division

The UK's leading provider of flexible blue-collar workers, supplying over 60,000 staff per day to c. 1,500 private sector clients, across a wide range of industries including agriculture, drinks, driving, food processing, logistics and manufacturing. It operates from over 400 locations in UK, Eire and Poland.

Its world leading Customer Experience platform provides optimised customer-based staffing management solutions whilst providing market-leading levels of job satisfaction for workers.

PeoplePlus Division

The leading adult skills and training provider in the UK, delivering apprenticeships, adult education, prison education and skills-based employability programmes across the country.

Education and Training - market leading provider of training courses for private sector Apprenticeships (both Levy and non-Levy) and Government funded Adult Skills programmes.

Employability - top quartile performer, supporting Government programmes providing back-to-work education and support services to the unemployed.

Justice and Community - education and training services for prisoners and ex-offenders, as well as individual support services for carers and people with disabilities, both at home and in the work place.