23 April 2026

Connecting Excellence Group Plc

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

XCE secures further investment from Adam Back

Strategic Investor Participates in Subscription raising £585,000

Connecting Excellence Group Plc (AQSE: XCE / OTCQB: XCELF), the international executive recruitment group with a long-term, ambitious and disciplined Bitcoin (BTC) treasury strategy, is pleased to announce that it has secured commitment from its strategic investor, Adam Back, to subscribe (the "Subscription") for 33,457,143 new ordinary shares (the "Subscription Shares") at 1.75 pence per Subscription Share, equal to the closing mid-price of 1.75p per Ordinary Share on 22 April 2026.

The Subscription will raise gross proceeds of £585,500 and will be used to support the expansion of the Group's Bitcoin treasury.

Admission

Subscription is conditional, inter alia, on the admission of the Subscription Shares to trading on the Aquis Growth Market ("Admission") and it is expected that Admission will take place on or around 30 April 2026. The Subscription Shares will rank pari passu in all regards with the existing shares of the Company.

Total Voting Rights

Following Admission, the Company will have 415,622,830 Ordinary Shares in issue, each with one voting right. The Company does not hold any shares in treasury and therefore the total number of voting rights in the Company will be 415,622,830.

The above figure of 415,622,830 should be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

Scott Ellam, Chief Executive Officer of Connecting Excellence Group, commented: "It's a privilege to have Adam Back as a strategic investor in XCE. He is one of the leading figures in the history of Bitcoin so we are delighted that he has increased his investment and support for our ongoing strategy.

"Since we embarked on our journey from the first BTC purchase as a private company in 2021, to one of the first listed operational businesses with an integrated BTC treasury at the end of 2025, we have continued to grow our executive recruitment operations in conjunction with the expansion of our BTC balance sheet. We look forward to providing further updates on our progress to the market."  

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.

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.