Grant of Options under 2017 Share Scheme

For immediate release                                                                                                                        27 October 2017

 

 

STAFFLINE GROUP PLC

("Staffline" or "the Group")

 

Grant of Options under 2017 Share Scheme

Staffline, the Staffing and Employability organisation, announces the grant of options to employees as part of its Save As You Earn ("SAYE") share scheme for 2017. The scheme is open to all permanent employees who have completed at least six months continuous service, giving them the opportunity to participate in the future growth of the Group via share option arrangements.

Eligible employees were invited to subscribe for options over Staffline's ordinary shares of 10p each ("Ordinary Shares") with an exercise price of £9.32, a 20% discount to the closing middle market price on the trading day before the invitation to participate was made. The options have a contract start date of 1 December 2017 and are exercisable between 1 December 2020 and 31 May 2021.

A total of 290 employees elected to participate, and, pursuant to these elections, a total of 148,276 options over Ordinary Shares were granted on 26 October 2017, equating to 0.53% of the current issued share capital of 27,849,389 shares. These shares will be issued to participants from the 2,220,400 Ordinary 10p Shares currently held by the Employee Benefit Trust, issued by the Group in accordance with Joint Share Ownership Plans ("JSOP") on 6 September 2010 and 4 July 2013.

Andy Hogarth, Chief Executive Officer, and Christopher Pullen, Chief Financial Officer, are participants in the Company's SAYE scheme and are included in the total figures above. Their individual option grant pursuant to this year's SAYE scheme is 1,931 shares and 1,931 shares respectively. As a result of these option grants, their interest in Staffline's Ordinary 10p Shares is as follows:

Director	Ordinary Shares held	Ordinary Shares held under JSOP	Ordinary Shares under option in ESOP	Ordinary Shares under option in SAYE	Total  interest	% of issued share capital
Andy Hogarth	1,513,629	350,000	-	1,931	1,865,560	6.70%
Christopher Pullen	12,000	-	100,000	1,931	113,931	0.41%

 

 

In addition, options totaling 19,721 shares were granted to the following 14 employees who are regarded as Persons Discharging Managerial Responsibilities ("PDMR's"):

 

 

Reference number	Name	Role	Division	Shares under option in SAYE
1	J Bladon	Director - Compliance and Ethical Standards	Staffing	1,158
2	P Collins	Company Secretary	Group	1,931
3	J Davies	Divisional Director	Staffing	1,931
4	T Elverstone	Head of HR	Staffing	193
5	L Garner	Group Sales Director	Staffing	1,931
6	B Hansford	Managing Director (Wales)	PeoplePlus	1,000
7	D Hughes	Divisional Director	Staffing	764
8	M Keegan	Finance Director	Staffing	579
9	R Lucas	Group Financial Accountant	Group	1,931
10	K Rodger	Director of Justice and Strategy	PeoplePlus	579
11	R Stockall	HR Director	PeoplePlus	1,931
12	N Watson	Financial Controller	PeoplePlus	1,931
13	M Watts	Finance Director	PeoplePlus	1,931
14	S Wistance	IT Director	Staffing	1,931

 

Details of each transaction can be found in the Annex pages that follow.

 

For further information, please contact:

Staffline Group plc

Andy Hogarth, Chief Executive Officer                                                                               07931 175775

Chris Pullen, Group Chief Financial Officer                                                                       07786 265344

www.staffline.co.uk

Liberum Capital Limited   NOMAD and Joint Broker

Steve Pearce / Joshua Hughes                                                                                                020 3100 2222

www.liberumcapital.com

Berenberg  Joint Broker

Chris Bowman / Marie Stolberg                                                                                              020 3465 2722

www.berenberg.com

Buchanan   PR and Communications

Richard Oldworth / Jamie Hooper / Madeleine Seacombe                                          020 7466 5000

www.buchanan.uk.com

 

 

 

About Staffline

 

Staffline is a leading outsourcing organisation providing services, mainly in the UK and Eire, to both Government and commercial customers. The Staffing division supplies up to 51,000 workers per day to more than 1,500 clients. Using the skills we have developed and learned within Staffing we have developed a second division, PeoplePlus, and have become a leading provider to both Central and Local Government, offering a wide range of services to help and support in the Employability (Welfare to Work), Communities and Skills arenas.

 

Staffing Services

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

 

·    Staffline OnSite, based on clients' premises and providing both blue and white collar, out-sourced, 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 as well as industrial recruitment

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

 

PeoplePlus

Trading under the PeoplePlus brand, Government contracts include:

 

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

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

·     Steps to Success, prime contractor in Northern Ireland

·     Youth Guarantee (MyGo Centre), supporting youth employment in the Ipswich area

·     Youth Promise Plus, supporting youth employment in Birmingham

·     Youth Employment Gateway, supporting youth employment in the Wirral

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

 

Training services:

 

·     Prime contractor to the Education and Skills Funding Agency, Welsh Government as well as Skills Development Scotland,

·     Delivering Apprenticeships and Adult Education across the UK - funded by both the Skills Funding Agency and private commercial organisations.  

 

Community services:

 

·   Ministry of Justice, Transforming Rehabilitation in Warwickshire and West Mercia, helping to transform rehabilitation and probation services

·   OLASS, delivery of training to prisoners in nine prisons in the East of England

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

·   Visitor Centres for the Northern Ireland Prison Service

·   Careers Hubs in Stoke and Staffordshire

 

 

 

 

ANNEX

The following notifications are intended to satisfy the Company's obligations under Article 19(3) of EU Regulation No 596/2014 (the Market Abuse Regulation).

 Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them

1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated
a)	Name	ANDREW HOGARTH
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
b)	Initial notification/ Amendment	INITIAL NOTIFICATION
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	STAFFLINE GROUP PLC
b)	LEI	213800BVLF1BCOJUH828
4	Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted
a)	Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument   Identification code	ORDINARY SHARES OF 10P EACH       GB00B040L800
b)	Nature of the transaction	GRANT OF OPTIONS TO PURCHASE ORDINARY SHARES OF 10P EACH UNDER THE STAFFLINE SAVE AS YOU EARN SCHEME 2017
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) £9.32 1,931
d)	Aggregated information   -        Aggregated volume   -      Price	NOT APPLICABLE
e)	Date of the transaction	26 OCTOBER 2017
f)	Place of the transaction	OFF MARKET

 

 

 

 Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them

1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated
a)	Name	CHRISTOPHER PULLEN
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
b)	Initial notification/ Amendment	INITIAL NOTIFICATION
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	STAFFLINE GROUP PLC
b)	LEI	213800BVLF1BCOJUH828
4	Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted
a)	Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument   Identification code	ORDINARY SHARES OF 10P EACH       GB00B040L800
b)	Nature of the transaction	GRANT OF OPTIONS TO PURCHASE ORDINARY SHARES OF 10P EACH UNDER THE STAFFLINE SAVE AS YOU EARN SCHEME 2017
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) £9.32 1,931
d)	Aggregated information   -        Aggregated volume   -      Price	NOT APPLICABLE
e)	Date of the transaction	26 OCTOBER 2017
f)	Place of the transaction	OFF MARKET

 

 

 

 

 

Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them

1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated
a)	Name	1.       JANE BLADON 2.       PAUL COLLINS 3.       JAMES DAVIES 4.       TRACEY ELVERSTONE 5.       LEE GARNER 6.       BEN HANSFORD 7.       DYLAN HUGHES 8.       MARK KEEGAN 9.       ROBERT LUCAS 10.     KEVIN RODGER 11.     RUTH STOCKALL 12.     NEIL WATSON 13.     MICHAEL WATTS 14.     STUART WISTANCE
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	1.       DIRECTOR - COMPLIANCE AND ETHICAL STANDARDS (STAFFING DIVISION) 2.       COMPANY SECRETARY 3.       DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR (STAFFING DIVISION) 4.       HEAD OF HR (STAFFING DIVISION) 5.       GROUP SALES DIRECTOR (STAFFING DIVISION) 6.       MANAGING DIRECTOR WALES (PEOPLEPLUS DIVISION) 7.       ACCOUNT DIRECTOR (STAFFING DIVISION) 8.       FINANCE DIRECTOR (STAFFING DIVISION) 9.       GROUP FINANCIAL ACCOUNTANT 10.     DIRECTOR OF JUSTICE AND STRATEGY (PEOPLEPLUS DIVISION) 11.     HR DIRECTOR (PEOPLEPLUS DIVISION) 12.     FINANCIAL CONTROLLER (PEOPLEPLUS DIVISION) 13.     FINANCE DIRECTOR (PEOPLEPLUS DIVISION) 14.     IT DIRECTOR (STAFFING DIVISION)
b)	Initial notification/ Amendment	INITIAL NOTIFICATION
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	STAFFLINE GROUP PLC
b)	LEI	213800BVLF1BCOJUH828
4	Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted
a)	Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument   Identification code	ORDINARY SHARES OF 10P EACH       GB00B040L800
b)	Nature of the transaction	GRANT OF OPTIONS TO PURCHASE ORDINARY SHARES OF 10P EACH UNDER THE STAFFLINE SAVE AS YOU EARN SCHEME 2017
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	PDMR reference PDMR Price(s) Volume(s) 1 J Bladon £9.32 1,158 2 P Collins £9.32 1,931 3 J Davies £9.32 1,931 4 T Elverstone £9.32 193 5 L Garner £9.32 1,931 6 B Hansford £9.32 1,000 7 D Hughes £9.32 764 8 M Keegan £9.32 579 9 R Lucas £9.32 1,931 10 K Rodger £9.32 579 11 R Stockall £9.32 1,931 12 N Watson £9.32 1,931 13 M Watts £9.32 1,931 14 S Wistance £9.32 1,931
d)	Aggregated information   -        Aggregated volume   -      Price	NOT APPLICABLE
e)	Date of the transaction	26 OCTOBER 2017
f)	Place of the transaction	OFF MARKET