Final Results

RNS Number : 9021H

Staffline Group PLC

02 March 2010

 



Embargoed until 0700                                                                               Tuesday, 2 March 2010

STAFFLINE GROUP PLC

PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2009

Staffline Group plc ("Staffline" or "the Group"), a leading provider of recruitment, training and outsourced HR services to industry, today announces its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2009.

Financial highlights:

§ Revenues of £115.0m (2008: £120.8m)

§ Operating profit of £3.6m (2008: £3.7m)

§ Operating margin of 3.1% (2008: 3.1%)

§ Profit before tax of £3.5m (2008: £3.4m)

§ Basic earnings per share of 11.5p (2008:11.1p ); increase of 3.6%

§ Final dividend of 1.7p; total dividend of 3.1p (2008:2.9p); increase of 6.9%

§ Net debt reduced to £5.0m (2008:£6.0m)

§ Gearing fell to 19% (2008: 24%)

§ Interest costs reduced by 70% to £0.1m (2008: £0.4m); covered 33 times (2008: 10 times)

§ Three acquisitions completed and integrated successfully in the year

§ Post Tax profit increased by 5%

Operational highlights:

§ Continued growth in OnSites:

-    up by 7 during the reporting period to 119

-    represents 86% of group sales (2008: 79%)

-    food processing sector continues to demonstrate relative resilience

§ Continued cost savings being delivered

-    rationalisation of the branch network

-    reduction in administration costs of £1.8m (13.6%) to £11.2m

§ People employed by the Group have increased by 12%;

Current trading:

§ Trading in the first eight weeks of 2010 has been in line with management's expectations

§ A net increase of 5 new OnSites expected in the first quarter

§ Current financial year will gain the full benefit of the new OnSites opened during the second half of 2009

Commenting on the results and prospects for 2010, Andy Hogarth, Chairman and Chief Executive, said:

I am very pleased to be able to report an increase in profits, both before and after tax, following an extremely challenging year for all in the recruitment business.  It is a testament to the dedication and hard work of all of the Staffline team, wherever they work in the UK, that we have been able to do this.

Trading in the first few weeks of 2010 has been in line with expectations and we are continuing to see strong demand for new OnSites, particularly in the food processing sector.  We currently have a pipeline of 5 new OnSites due to open in the first quarter and the current financial year will gain the full benefit of the new OnSites opened during the second half of 2009. 

Overall we continue to be encouraged by the levels of interest in our products and services from new clients and, whilst we expect the recession to continue to provide a tough economic backdrop in the markets where we operate, we remain confident that our model will allow us to operate profitably and indeed continue to grow.  The operational savings that are being constantly implemented will allow us to continue to underpin our profitability in 2010.

We are in a strong financial position, net debt continued to fall during 2009 and with our term loan not maturing until 2013, we expect to continue to generate significant cash in the coming years.  We continue to look for acquisition opportunities and look forward to the challenges ahead.

For further information, please contact:	www.staffline.co.uk
Staffline Group plc	0115 950 0885
Andy Hogarth, Chairman and Chief Executive	07931 175775
Tim Jackson, Finance Director	07720 458626
Altium
Phil Adams / Paul Lines	0161 831 9133
Smithfield
Debbie Potts / Rebecca Whitehead	020 7360 4900

About Staffline

Staffline Group plc's main business is as a specialist supplier of "blue collar" temporary and contract staff to industry.  It provides a fully outsourced service, managing the temporary recruitment function of its clients on their premises, at 119 OnSite locations nationwide and also has a network of 13 industrial branches.  In addition, the Group has three smaller businesses branded as Techsearch, which specialises in temporary and permanent engineering, IT, HR and FMCG placements, OSP, which provides permanent recruitment outsourcing services in healthcare, retail, and distribution and Peter Rowley which provides training.  The Group, which is managed from a head office in Nottingham, was founded in 1986 and was admitted to AIM in December 2004 (Ticker: STAF.L).

A presentation for analysts will be held at 9.15am for 9.30am at

the offices of Smithfield, 10 Aldersgate Street, London EC1A 4HJ

Print resolution images are available for the media to view and download from

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Chairman and Chief Executive's Statement

Introduction

I closed my remarks this time last year by saying that the Group looked forward with enthusiasm and confidence to 2009. We were proved correct in doing so, having managed to grow our profitability during the year.  The Group's main activity continues to be the provision and management of unskilled and semi-skilled workers to UK industry, including manufacturing, logistics and distribution and in particular food processing, which has remained resilient during the recession.  The largest area of activity is our OnSite offering, where we are contracted by our clients to recruit, train and manage temporary workers on the customer's own premises.  OnSite now represents 86% of group sales, up from 79% a year ago.

The Year in Review

The total number of OnSite locations has increased to 119, representing a net increase of 7 during the year from both existing and new clients.  Whilst this represents a further increase in our market share some client site closures and volume reductions resulted in a full year reduction of sales of £5.7m, or 4.8%.  The first half of the year accounted for all of this fall in sales, with sales during the second half increasing slightly on 2008. The cost reduction programme instituted in 2008 continued to deliver results during 2009 which helped us to achieve increase profit before amortisation of £3.6m (2008:£3.5m); profit before tax of £3.5m (2008:£3.4m) and profit after tax of £2.5m (2008:£2.3m).

Basic earnings per share have also risen in the financial year, to 11.5p (2008:11.1p)

Dividends

Given the increased profitability of the group, the Board is recommending an increased final dividend of 1.7p, giving a total for the year of 3.1p (2008: 2.9p).  This represents dividend cover of 3.75 times post tax earnings, which maintains the same level of cover as last year and reflects the Board's stated policy of seeking to maintain cover at this level.

Subject to shareholder approval, the final dividend will be paid on 7 July 2010 to shareholders on the register as at 4 June 2010.

Strategy

The Group's strategy has been extended during the year, shaped by the effects of the recession and we are now also increasingly looking to bolt-on acquisition opportunities as well as organic growth to enhance shareholder value.  

During 2009 we were approached by in excess of 30 companies and advisors to see if we might be interested in acquiring them.  We concluded three purchases: Peter Rowley Limited, La Gente, and The Workplace, which will together add about £10m to sales in a full year, further contributing to our profitability. 

The integration of these bolt-on acquisitions has also resulted in improved scope to drive efficiencies and we continue to seek and deliver further acquisitions as part of our core strategy going forward.

Our staged payment model for acquisition consideration can greatly increase the level of payment made to the vendor whilst allowing us to minimise the risk to Staffline and increase earnings immediately.  These acquisitions have partly been responsible for the increase in the numbers of OnSites but our greatest emphasis remains organic growth.  We are confident that the cost pressures which are continuing to be experienced by our clients and target customer base will endure and therefore the need for our services has never been greater.  As consumers demand increased value for money; our services enable our clients to operate more efficiently and maintain their competitiveness and this will ensure that we are able to continue to grow.

Name Change

Following shareholder approval the name of the company changed to Staffline Group plc on 20 July 2009. This reflects the gradual move away from the Group's previous core activity of recruitment towards being a provider of a wider range of business services.

Operational Review

The number of OnSite locations continued to grow, to 119 at the year end compared to 112 a year earlier. As in previous years, organic growth has been driven by existing clients taking on additional OnSites as well as new client wins.  Clients continue to be attracted to a combination of the benefits of outsourcing their temporary recruitment function, allowing them to focus on managing their core business, together with the operating efficiencies that the appointment of Staffline delivers.

Our core area of food distribution and processing has remained relatively resilient, and the majority of new sites won in the year have been in this sector.  However, demand from many individual sites has been subdued, most notably from existing customers in the automotive and manufacturing sectors. 

We finished the year with 13 branch locations.  We closed a number of branches at the start of 2009 as we felt that the recession was likely to make them uneconomic.  The remaining branches have, with the exception of one location, all continued to trade profitably.

The Techsearch profits have remained constant during 2009, a good result when compared with the rest of the recruitment industry.

OSP has had a successful year, with sales continuing to grow in both existing and new areas.

Industry Appointments

Marshall Evans, our Operations Director, continues to be a Corporate Director of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and to sit on the Board of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority.  I am also an Executive Committee member of the Association of Labour Providers (ALP).  We are the only Group with representation on the three major organisations shaping the future of our industry and through these combined roles, we can be confident that Staffline remains at the forefront of implementing and shaping changes in best practice in our industry.

The Labour Market

During the year, we found work for a total of 32,474 people, a reduction of 12% on 2008 - a slight fall due to the impact of the recession, but once working for us our contractors were more inclined to stay than in earlier years.

People chose to work through us for many reasons, often as a first step on the employment ladder in the UK, as a route to obtaining full time work, or to fund their studies  Others enjoy the freedom such work affords them, leaving them free to undertake child or other care.  The mix of workers changed significantly during the year: in 2008 63% of our workers had come from the new EU accession states after many years of growth; this had reduced in 2009 to 57%.  We also saw an increase in the number of contractors who had been born in the UK to 33% from 20% last year.  We envisage no shortage of domestic and overseas contractors when the economy starts to recover.

Health & Safety

We take the provision of a safe working environment for all our contractors and staff extremely seriously and have invested in processes and systems which alert us to areas of concern before we place a contractor in a position.  In an OnSite location this is relatively simple as we are often responsible for carrying out induction and other training, keeping accurate records and ensuring that a worker is suitably qualified for a role.  As we are located on the client's premises, we have direct access to the client and any concerns identified can be readily addressed.

We have recorded an accident frequency rate for the whole year of 0.77%, an improvement on the previous year. This compares to the average in the industries in which we work of a 6.1% frequency.  This is important, not only as we have a duty to ensure we do not cause harm to any person working for us, but also because we must always protect the reputation of our clients.

Whilst we are pleased with this result we acknowledge that we must continue to strive to improve this key metric.

Environmental Policy

Whilst, by the nature of our business, we have a lower impact on the environment than companies operating in some other sectors, we recognise that it is necessary for us to minimise our carbon footprint.  To this end, we have been developing our environmental policy since 2004, when we stopped providing company cars and introduced a stringent policy of reimbursement for business mileage. 

During that year, we also started to look at ways in which we could reduce the transportation of workers by attracting people living in an area local to a client rather than having to transport them.  We estimate that we now need to offer transport to less than 2% of our workers, compared to 50% five years ago. 

More recently, we have introduced re-cycling schemes for our used office products, mobile phones and computer equipment.  We have also moved our head office to a purpose-built, energy-efficient location in Nottingham.  The new building is served by good public transport links; however these will be further improved over the next few years with the extension of the Nottingham tram network, allowing almost all of our staff to travel to work by public transport.

Gangmasters Licensing

As previously reported, Staffline was the first major supplier to be granted a Gangmaster licence under the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004.  Since the licensing scheme came into force, 106 suppliers have had their licences revoked and 75 refused out of a total number of 1,185 holders.  We applaud the continuing efforts made by the GLA to stamp out any poor operating practices and welcome the positive impact it has had on our industry.

Travel and Subsistence Schemes

Over the past two years Staffline and a number of other reputable businesses have come under significant operating margin pressure from a number of organisations in our industry who have been paying their temporary workers via tax free expenses rather than fully taxing earnings via the PAYE system. On 25 November 2009, the GLA announced their intention to enforce the current legislation concerning the payment of National Minimum Wage with effect from 17 February 2010. From this date it has not been possible for a recruitment business operating in the food processing and agricultural sector to pay less than minimum wage to any of its workers.  At the time of writing we have not been aware of any impact on operators in this sector but expect to see changes in the coming months.

ISO 9002 and Investors in People

We are committed to obtaining ISO 9002 during the first half of 2010 as well as maintaining IIP status, which we have held for over 10 years.

Verification Systems

We continue to have a large number of workers who attempt to register with us without possessing the correct identification documents. The investment made in 2006/7 in IT systems has greatly helped us to ensure that such workers are not supplied in error by us to a client.  We continue to work very closely with the various Government departments and, in the many audits they have undertaken, we have been shown to be fully compliant with all legislation.

Employees

As sales increased during the second half, and we continued to widen our offering to our clients, the number of people employed by the Group increased 12% during the year to 243 in December 2009 from 217 in 2008. Whilst this increase has largely been driven by necessity, it demonstrates how our employees continue to be the backbone of our Group.  We remain committed to recognising their valuable contribution to delivering consistently excellent client service and thereby growing our business.  We continue to place great value in the training of our staff and as well as many internal training courses; we have recently introduced the REC Certificate in Recruitment Practice scheme.

Current Trading and Prospects

Trading in the first few weeks of 2010 has been in line with market expectations and we are continuing to see strong demand for new OnSites, particularly in the food processing sector.  We currently have a pipeline of 5 new OnSites due to open in the first quarter and the current financial year will gain the full benefit of the new OnSites opened during the second half of 2009. 

Overall we continue to be encouraged by the levels of interest in our products and services from new clients and, whilst we expect the recession to continue to provide a tough economic backdrop in the markets where we operate, we remain confident that our model will allow us to operate profitably and indeed continue to grow.  The operational savings that are being constantly implemented will allow us to continue to underpin our profitability in 2010.

We are in a strong financial position; net debt has continued to fall during 2009 and with our term loan not maturing until 2013 we expect to continue to generate significant cash in the coming years.  We continue to look for acquisition opportunities and look forward to the challenges ahead.

Andy Hogarth

Chairman and Chief Executive

2 March 2010

Financial Directors Statement

Financial Highlights

Whilst total revenues for the year fell by 4.8% to £115.0m (2008: £120.8m) this was caused largely by the impact of the 5 branches closed in the first quarter of 2009, which accounted for £5.9m of the turnover last year.  Following a difficult first half the second half has delivered sales in line with 2008 driven by increased demand for our services from both new and existing clients, which has offset the branch closures.  The successful growth of our OnSite business, which achieves lower gross margins on higher volumes, has continued. 

The cost saving measures started in late 2008, and continuing into 2009, delivered significant savings across the business including the 5 branch closures. This focus on costs has reduced overall administrative costs by £1.8m (13.6%) against last year to £11.2m. This has helped hold the operating margin at 3.1% and the operating profit for the year at £3.6m (2008: £3.7m).

Continued tight management of our debtor book and a number of bank base rate reductions have reduced finance charges by 70% to £0.1m (2008: £0.4m) and this has meant that we have continued to improve interest cover, which has now reached 33 times (2008: 10 times).  Interest rates on our debt have remained unchanged during the year, at 1.0% over bank base rate for term borrowings and 2.0% over bank base rate for our overdraft facility.

Profit before tax for the reporting year increased to £3.5m (2008: £3.4m) and profit after tax was increased to £2.4m (2008: £2.3m).

Earnings per Share

The basic earnings per share increased by 3.6% to 11.5p compared to 11.1p last year. The diluted earnings per share were 11.3p compared to 10.7p in 2008.

Dividends

The directors propose a final dividend of 1.7p per share against 1.5p per share last year. This gives a total dividend for the year of 3.1p per share which is 6.9% ahead of the 2.9p per share paid last year.

Acquisitions

During the year we completed three acquisitions at a total potential cost of £2.6m. Included in this amount is £1m paid during the year and £0.9m which is dependent on future profitability. These acquisitions will add around £10m to turnover in a full year. The acquisitions have created goodwill of £1.2m and intangible assets of £0.7m. The intangible assets will be amortised over a period of 2 years. The acquisitions have been funded from existing banking facilities.

Balance Sheet

The Group balance sheet has strengthened during the year, with net current assets rising by £0.1m to £3.0m (2008: £2.9m) and a ratio of current assets to current liabilities of 1.18.  It is also pleasing to report a significant fall in gearing to 19% (2008: 24%). The Group continues to be focussed on cash generation and ensuring a robust balance sheet. 

Financing

The Group has the financing facilities in place to support the future growth of the business.  The current facilities include a term loan of £3.6m repayable in quarterly instalments up to 2013 and an overdraft of up to £5.0m.  At 31 December 2009, £3.6m of the overdraft was undrawn.  The overdraft facility is renewable annually and is due to be renewed in March 2010.  Substantive discussions have already been held with the bank which has resulted in an indicative offer of similar facilities for the period to March 2011 at a similar cost of funding as currently in place. The board believes that these facilities, once finalised, will ensure that the Group has sufficient headroom to manage the current operations as well as providing further headroom to support the continued growth of the business.  During the whole of 2009 the average daily overdraft balance was £224,000, leaving an average unused facility of £4.8m.

Post tax cash generation during the year has been strong although the growth in sales in the second half has increased the working capital requirement by £0.3m. We have invested £1m in acquisitions during the year covering The Workplace, La Gente Recruitment and Peter Rowley Limited and also invested £0.1m on our systems to improve internal productivity.  Despite these investments we ended the year with a strong reduction in net debt of £1.0m to £5.0m (2008: £6.0m).

Tim Jackson
Finance Director
2 March 2010

Consolidated statement of comprehensive income

For the year ended 31 December 2009

	Note		2009	2008
			£'000	£'000
Continuing operations
Sales revenue			115,025	120,784
Cost of sales			(100,189)	(104,046)
Gross profit			14,836	16,738
Administrative expenses			(11,253)	(12,992)
Profit from operations			3,583	3,746
Finance costs			(108)	(370)
Profit for the year before taxation			3,475	3,376
Tax expense	3		(1,030)	(1,031)
Net profit and total comprehensive income for the year			2,445	2,345
Earnings per ordinary share	4
Basic			11.5p	11.1p
Diluted			11.3p	10.7p

Consolidated statement of changes in equity

For the year ended 31 December 2009

	Share     capital	Share   premium	Share   based   payment   reserve	Profit and loss account		Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000		£'000
At 1 January 2009	2,123	14,525	149	7,489	24,286
Dividends	-	-	-	(616)		(616)
Share options issued in share based payments	-	-	21	-		21
Transactions with owners	2,123	14,525	170	6,873		23,691
Profit for the period	-	-	-	2,445		2,445
Total comprehensive income for the period	-	-	-	2,445		2,445
Balance at 31 December 2009	2,123	14,525	170	9,318		26,136

	Share  capital	Share  premium	Share based payment reserve	Profit and loss account		Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000		£'000
At 1 January 2008	2,112	14,468	106	5,951	22,637
Dividends	-	-	-	(826)		(826)
Share options issued in share based payments	-	-	62	-		62
Transfer on exercise of options	-	-	(19)	19		-
Share options exercised	11	57	-	-		68
Transactions with owners	2,123	14,525	149	5,144		21,941
Profit for the period	-	-	-	2,345		2,345
Total comprehensive income for the period	-	-	-	2,345		2,345
Balance at 31 December 2008	2,123	14,525	149	7,489		24,286

The accompanying notes form an integral part of these financial statements.

 

Consolidated statement of financial position

For the year ended 31 December 2009

		2009	2008
		£'000	£'000
Assets
Non current
Goodwill		25,422	24,181
Other intangible assets		726	25
Property, plant and equipment		725	891
		26,873	25,097
Current
Trade and other receivables		18,609	15,805
Cash and cash equivalents		859	892
		19,468	16,697
Total assets		46,341	41,794
Liabilities
Current
Trade and other payables		(12,030)	(10,162)
Borrowings		(3,177)	(3,251)
Other current liabilities		(608)	(17)
Current tax liabilities		(627)	(371)
		(16,442)	(13,801)
Non current
Borrowings		(2,639)	(3,570)
Other non current liabilities		(1,124)	(137)
Total liabilities		(20,205)	(17,508)
Equity
Share capital		(2,123)	(2,123)
Share premium		(14,525)	(14,525)
Share based payment reserve		(170)	(149)
Profit and loss account		(9,318)	(7,489)
Total equity		(26,136)	(24,286)
Total equity and liabilities		(46,341)	(41,794)

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors on 1 March 2009.

A J Hogarth                                                                                          T D Jackson

Director                                                                                                  Director

The accompanying notes form an integral part of these financial statements.

 

Consolidated statement of cash flows

For the year ended 31 December 2009

						2009 £'000	2008 £'000
	Cash flows from operating activities
Profit before taxation						3,475	3,376
Adjustments for:
Finance costs						108	370
Depreciation and amortisation of property, plant and   equipment and intangible assets						413	362
Operating profit before changes in working capital and provisions						3,996	4,108
Change in trade and other receivables						(2,804)	833
Change in trade and other payables						2,306	(2,099)
Cash generated from operations						3,498	2,842
Adjustment for debt issue costs						-	-
	Employee equity settled share options					21	62
	Taxes paid					(774)	(1,359)
	Net cash inflow from operating activities					2,745	1,545
	Cash flows from investing activities
	Purchases of property, plant and equipment					(48)	(214)
	Acquisition of businesses net of cash acquired					(1,000)	-
	Net cash used in investing activities					(1,048)	(214)
	Cash flows from financing activities
	Repayment of bank and other loans					(906)	(930)
	Interest paid					(108)	(344)
	Dividends paid					(616)	(826)
	Proceeds from the issue of share capital					-	68
	Net cash flows from financing activities					(1,630)	(2,032)
	Net change in cash and cash equivalents					67	(701)
	Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period					(1,463)	(762)
	Cash and cash equivalents at end of period					(1,396)	(1,463)

Notes to the Accounts

For the year ended 31 December 2009

1              accounting policies

Basis of preparation

The consolidated financial statements of Staffline Group plc and its subsidiary undertakings ('the Group') have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the EU and the International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. 

Critical accounting estimates and assumptions

The Group makes estimates and assumptions concerning the future.  The resulting accounting estimates will, by definition, seldom equal actual results.  The estimates and assumptions that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next accounting year are as follows:

Impairment of goodwill

The annual impairment assessment in respect of goodwill requires estimates of the value-in-use of cash generating units to which goodwill has been allocated to be calculated.  As a result, estimates of future cashflows are required, together with an appropriate discount factor for the purpose of determining the present value of those cashflows.  The basis of review of the carrying value of goodwill is as detailed in note 9.

Deferred contingent consideration

As part of the acquisition process a forecast is prepared which projects the financial performance of the business over the expected earnout period. These forecasts are reviewed and updated based on actual performance. Part of the cost of the acquisition is dependent on the trading performance of the acquired business following the transaction. The deferred contingent consideration is based on these estimates of the future performance of the acquired business.

Critical judgments in applying the Group's accounting policies

The Directors, do not consider they have had to make any critical judgements in applying the accounting policies which are described above.

2              segmental reporting

(a)           By business segment (primary segment):

As defined under IFRS 8,  the only material business segment the Group has is that of providing temporary staff to customers as the placement of permanent staff to customers contributes less than 10% of Group total revenue.  The sales revenue is from the rendering of services.

(b)           By geographical segment (secondary segment):

Under the definitions contained in IFRS 8, the only material geographic segment that the Group operates in is the United Kingdom.

Following the acquisition of Peter Rowley Limited in December 2009 the Group now has two segments, being the provision of contracted staff and recruitment consultancy and the provision of training services. At 31 December 2009 the net asset position and financial performance of Peter Rowley since the date of acquisition are immaterial to the Group and hence have not been disclosed separately above. Subject to further acquisitions the Group expects to further review its segmental information during the forthcoming financial year.

3              tax expense

The relationship between the expected tax expense at 28% and the tax expense actually recognised in the income statement can be reconciled as follows:

	2009		2008
	£'000	%	£'000	%
Result for the year before tax	3,475		3,376
Tax rate	28.0%		28.5%
Expected tax expense	973	28.0	962	28.5
Adjustment for non-deductible expenses relating to short term temporary differences	30	0.8	27	0.8
Other non-deductible expenses	27	0.8	42	1.2
Actual tax expense	1,030	29.6	1,031	30.5
Tax expense comprises:
Current tax expense	1,030		1,031

There is no tax expense or credit in relation to the share based payment reserve credited to equity.

4              earnings per share

The calculation of basic earnings per share is based on the earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders divided by the weighted average number of shares in issue during the year. The calculation of the diluted earnings per share is based on the basic earnings per share adjusted to allow for all dilutive potential ordinary shares.

Details of the earnings and weighted average number of shares used in the calculations are set out below:

	Basic		Diluted
	2009	2008	2009	2008
Earnings (£'000)	2,445	2,345	2,445	2,345
Weighted average number of shares	21,229,081	21,189,551	21,854,101	21,865,339
Earnings per share (pence)	11.5p	11.1p	11.2p	10.7p

The weighted average number of shares has been increased by 625,020 (2008: 675,788) shares to take account of all dilutive potential ordinary shares that could be issued under the share option scheme.

Dividends

During the year, Staffline Group plc paid interim dividends of £297,207 (2008: £295,521) to its equity shareholders.  This represents a payment of 1.4p (2008: 1.4p) per share.  A final dividend of £360,894 has been proposed (2008: £318,436) but has not been accrued within these financial statements.  This represents a payment of 1.7p (2008: 1.5p) per share.  The final dividend for 2008 was declared and paid in 2009.

5              publication of non-statutory accounts

The financial information set out in this preliminary announcement does not constitute statutory accounts as defined in section 434 of the Companies Act 2006.

The consolidated summarised income statement, the consolidated summarised statement of changes in equity, the consolidated summarised balance sheet and the consolidated summarised cash flow statement and associated notes have been extracted from the Group's 2009 statutory financial statements upon which the auditors opinion is unqualified and does not include any statement under Section 498 of the Companies Act 2006.

Those financial statements have not yet been delivered to the registrar of companies.

 

END

 

 

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