2 February 2026

Connecting Excellence Group Plc

("Connecting Excellence Group", "XCE", the "Group" or the "Company")

Bitcoin Acquisition

Latest BTC purchase as a result of surplus operational cashflow

Connecting Excellence Group Plc (AQSE: XCE), the international executive recruitment group with a long term, ambitious and disciplined Bitcoin treasury strategy, announces that it has purchased 1.065 Bitcoin using surplus operational cashflow generated during January from its flagship recruitment business, Spencer Riley.

Spencer Riley experienced higher than average January revenues of £253,424 generating incremental cashflow for the Group. In line with XCE's capital allocation framework, this surplus cash from the operating business has been deployed to grow the Company's Bitcoin treasury.

This uncorrelated operating performance enables the Group to continue executing its Bitcoin accumulation strategy across market cycles with Spencer Riley's sustained performance providing predictable cashflow to support Bitcoin purchase.

Details of Purchase:

§ Number of BTC Purchased: 1.065

§ Average BTC Purchase Price: £60,100.00                                 ($82,625.48)

§ Amount Purchased: £64,000.00                                                 ($87,987.20)

Treasury Summary:

§ Total BTC Holdings: 52.425*

§ Average BTC Purchase Price: £61,027.44                                ($83,900.53)

§ Value of BTC Purchased to date: £3,150,729.15**                  ($4,331,622.43)

§ BTC Yield*** from IPO: 437.0%

* Includes 10 BTC held in relation to XCE's 2026 Bitcoin-denominated convertible bond programme

**Using a BTC GBP price of £60,100.00  

***As defined below and upon XCE BTC Bond conversion

All conversions to USD use a USD to GBP exchange rate of 1.3748, which is at the date of the final Bitcoin purchases announced above.

Scott Ellam, Chief Executive Officer of Connecting Excellence Group, commented: "This Bitcoin purchase is a clear demonstration of how XCE's unique business model works in practice. Spencer Riley's executive recruitment performance generated surplus cashflow in January and thus we have utilised that cashflow directly into accumulating Bitcoin in line with our disciplined treasury strategy.

"Our profitable operating company, Spencer Riley, produces revenue largely uncorrelated to volatile Bitcoin market movements, we intend to combine the operational cashflow growth with our team's capital markets expertise in order to increase BTC per share, in any environment."

About Connecting Excellence Group Plc ("XCE"):

XCE is an international executive recruitment group with a long term, ambitious and disciplined Bitcoin treasury strategy. The flagship recruitment company, Spencer Riley, places senior executives with clients globally across a number of high growth markets including engineering, logistics, life sciences, automation, tech, professional services and B2B services.

The Bitcoin treasury strategy sets the foundation for the Company's scalable recruitment business to attract and retain high performing talent with individual performance linked share option incentives to increase revenue, profit and cashflows. In the future, XCE can also expand market share through strategic acquisitions, at very little cash cost, using performance-based equity incentives to provide immediate and ongoing shareholder value. XCE is also building a dedicated Bitcoin executive recruitment division, enabling executives to find their role within either Bitcoin businesses or traditional businesses looking for Bitcoin talent worldwide and accelerating corporate education, integration and adoption of Bitcoin.

Website: xce.io

Follow on X: XCE - Connecting Excellence Group

Follow on Linkedin: XCE - Connecting Excellence Group

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

***BTC Yield is a key performance indicator (KPI) that reflects the percentage change in the ratio of Total Bitcoin Holdings to Ordinary Shares in issue (Fully Diluted) over a given period. The Company uses BTC Yield to assess the performance of its Bitcoin acquisition strategy, which is intended to be accretive to shareholders.

Important Notice: 

Connecting Excellence Group PLC holds treasury reserves and surplus cash in Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a type of digital asset. Whilst the Board of Directors of the Company considers holding Bitcoin to be in the best interests of the Company, the Board remains aware that the financial regulator in the UK (the Financial Conduct Authority or FCA) considers investment in Bitcoin to be high risk.

At the outset, it is important to note that an investment in the Company is not an investment in Bitcoin, either directly or by proxy. However, the Board of Directors of the Company consider Bitcoin to be an appropriate store of value and growth for the Company's reserves and, accordingly, the Company is materially exposed to Bitcoin. Such an approach is innovative, and the Board of Directors of the Company wish to be clear and transparent with prospective and actual investors in the Company on the Company's position in this regard.

The Company is neither authorised nor regulated by the FCA. And Bitcoin is unregulated in the UK. As with most other investments, the value of Bitcoin can go down as well as up, and therefore the value of the Company's Bitcoin holdings can fluctuate. The Company may not be able to realise its Bitcoin exposure for the same value as it paid in the first place or even for the value the Company ascribes to its Bitcoin positions due to these market movements. And because Bitcoin is unregulated, the Company is not protected by the UK's Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

However, Bitcoin is formally recognised as personal property in the UK under the new Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025, which received Royal Assent on December 2, 2025. This legislation has removed previous legal uncertainty by establishing a new, third category of personal property to accommodate digital assets that do not fit traditional definitions.

The Board of Directors of the Company with a history of a Bitcoin treasury prior to becoming a public company, has taken the decision to invest in Bitcoin, and in doing so is mindful of the special risks Bitcoin presents to the Company's financial position. These risks include (but are not limited to): (i) the value of Bitcoin can be highly volatile, with value dropping as quickly as it can rise; (ii) the Bitcoin market is largely unregulated - there is a risk of losing money due to risks such as cyber-attacks, financial crime and counterparty failure; (iii) the Company may not be able to sell its Bitcoin at will - the ability to sell Bitcoin depends on various factors, including the supply and demand in the market at the relevant time, with operational failings such as technology outages, cyber-attacks and comingling of funds potentially causing unwanted delay. The Board of Directors of the Company does not subscribe to such a negative view, and therefore ascribes to the 'Bitcoin, not crypto' mantra and has a 'Bitcoin only ethos'. However, prospective investors in the Company are encouraged to do their own research and verify before investing.