AGM Trading Update

RNS Number : 3347O

Staffline Group PLC

17 May 2018

 

For immediate release                                                                                                                     17 May 2018

Staffline Group plc

('Staffline' or 'the Group')

AGM Trading Update

Staffline (AIM: STAF), the Recruitment and Employability organisation, will hold its Annual General Meeting at 11.00am this morning. At the meeting, Chris Pullen, Chief Executive Officer of the Group, will make the following statement on current trading:

"During the first four months of 2018 the Group has traded in line with Board and market expectations.

Despite a tight labour market, the Recruitment division has continued to perform strongly. Our size and scale allows us to meet growing customer demand and the three acquisitions so far this year have improved our coverage in specific geographic areas. During the first four months of the year, the Customer Experience strategy has been rolled out giving unrivalled levels of insight into workers experiences on a site by site basis. This data will allow us to benefit both employee and customer retention through previously unseen feedback. We are confident that this will accelerate our consolidation of the market in which we already have a strong leadership position.

In PeoplePlus, the Group's Skills, Employability and Well-Being services division, the transition away from the Work Programme contracts remains on track. We are benefiting from our investment in the Apprenticeship Levy space and have made a good start to delivering Fair Start Scotland, which launched last month. We continue to develop a strong pipeline across a number of areas, including devolved government and prison education.

As a result, we are pleased to confirm that we are trading in line with market expectations and the Board remains confident of the Group's growth prospects."

Next trading update

The Group's next scheduled announcement of financial information will be the interim pre-close trading update on Wednesday 4^th July 2018.

For further information, please contact:
Staffline Group plc
Chris Pullen, Chief Executive Officer	07786 265344
Mike Watts, Group Chief Financial Officer	07970 215262
www.stafflinegroupplc.co.uk [e-mail]
Liberum
NOMAD and Joint Broker
Steve Pearce / Joshua Hughes www.liberum.com	020 3100 2222
Berenberg Joint Broker Chris Bowman / Toby Flaux www.berenberg.com	020 3465 2722
Buchanan PR and Communications
Richard Oldworth/Jamie Hooper/Madeleine Seacombe www.buchanan.uk.com [e-mail]	020 7466 5000

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 Mike Watts, Group Chief Financial Officer.

About Staffline

"Enabling the future of work"

Staffline is a leading workforce recruitment and management organisation providing services, mainly in the UK and Eire, to both Government and commercial customers. The Recruitment division (previously 'Staffing') supplied up to 52,000 workers per day in 2017 to more than 1,500 clients. The PeoplePlus division is a leading provider to both Central and Local Government, as well as commercial customers, offering a wide range of services to help and support in the Employability (Welfare to Work), Justice, Communities and Skills arenas.

Recruitment

Specialising in providing complete labour solutions in agriculture, food processing, manufacturing, e-retail, driving and the logistics sectors, the Recruitment business operates from over 400 locations in the UK, Eire and Poland. The Recruitment services include:

·   Staffline OnSite, based on clients' premises and providing both blue and white collar, managed, temporary workforces

·     Driving Plus, providing HGV drivers to the driving industry

·     Staffline Agriculture, providing workers to the UK farming and horticulture sectors

·     Staffline Express, our high street branch based operation

·     Brightwork, a recruitment business based in Scotland specialising in temporary and permanent jobs to the drinks industry

·     Diamond Recruitment, one of the largest providers of recruitment services in Northern Ireland

PeoplePlus

A trusted partner in delivering skills, employability and well-being services. Contracts span Central, Local and Devolved Government and the Private Sector, including:

Employability:

·     Work Programme, prime contractor in nine regions and sub-contractor in three regions in England and Wales

·     Fair Start Scotland, prime contractor in two regions commencing April 2018

·   New Enterprise Allowance (business start-up support), prime contractor in three regions of England and Scotland and a sub-contractor in Wales

·     Steps to Success, prime contractor in Northern Ireland, an employment programme to build skills

·    Tackling Youth Unemployment through the MyGo service in Suffolk, the Youth Promise Plus in Birmingham and the Wirral Youth Employment Gateway

·     Building Employment through Education, working in Schools in Northern Ireland

Education and Training services:

·     Prime contractor to the Education and Skills Funding Agency, Welsh Government and Skills Development Scotland, providing Adult Education and Apprenticeships 

·  Delivering Apprenticeships programmes for the Private Sector, via the Apprenticeship Levy and non-levy programmes   

Justice and Community services:

·   Ministry of Justice, Transforming Rehabilitation in Warwickshire and West Mercia, delivering rehabilitation services

·   Delivery of education and training to prisoners in ten prisons in the East of England and London

·   Independent Living Services, supporting 3,500 disabled people lead independent lives

·   Access To Work, providing adaptation in the work place for people with disabilities - national contract.

·   Support for the users of Prison Visitor Centres for the Northern Ireland Prison Service

·   Carers Hubs in Stoke and Staffordshire

 

END

 

 

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