Trading Update

18 January 2022

Gattaca plc

("Gattaca" or "the Company")

Trading Update

Gattaca plc, the specialist Engineering and Technology recruitment solutions business, provides the following trading update.

Following a review by the Board of the outlook for the business for its financial year ending 31 July 2022 ("FY22"), it now anticipates the Company's continuing underlying profit before tax will be significantly below market expectations. This is driven by delayed recovery in our contract business where the improvement in our customer's demand has been slower than expected we now foresee a lower growth rate in the second half of the financial year.

Permanent net fees are up 46% year on year with continued activity from our "RPO" (Permanent Recruitment Process Outsourcing solutions) clients.

In the contract side of our business, which historically represents 75% of Group NFI, we have continued to invest in people ahead of demand, with UK sales headcount up 24% since January 2021. While it is taking longer than anticipated to rebuild our contractor volumes to pre-pandemic levels, our investments in technology and sales headcount have ensured Gattaca is well equipped to meet future requirements as the contract market recovers.

The Board expects H1 2022 NFI will be around £22m (H1 2021 £20.5m) and FY22 NFI to be around £45m (FY2021 £42.1m), with continuing underlying profit before tax for its financial year ending 31 July 2022 to be around breakeven. We remain committed to driving sustainable recovery from the pandemic and confident in the long-term growth prospects for the business.

The Company will announce its interim results for the six months to 31 January 2022 on Thursday 31 March 2022.

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