Subscriptions raising £655,999 and Bitcoin treasury increased to 72.941 BTC
Investment of a further 10 Bitcoin by strategic investor Adam Back, alongside further subscriptions, raising £655,999 in aggregate and increasing XCE’s Bitcoin treasury to 72.941 BTC
LONDON, UK / ACCESS Newswire / September 1, 2026 / Connecting Excellence Group Plc (AQSE:XCE)(OTCQB:XCELF), the international executive recruitment group with a long-term, ambitious and disciplined Bitcoin (BTC) treasury strategy, announces that Adam Back, an existing key strategic investor, has agreed to subscribe for new ordinary shares of £0.000001 each (“Ordinary Shares”) in the Company through the transfer of 10 BTC to XCE (the “Back Subscription”), alongside subscriptions by two further investors (together with the Back Subscription, the “Subscriptions”).
The Back Subscription has been completed at a BTC valuation of £57,799.90 per BTC, representing an aggregate subscription value of £577,999. Pursuant to the Back Subscription, Adam Back will receive 38,533,267 new Ordinary Shares in the Company at an issue price of 1.5 pence per Ordinary Share (the “Issue Price”). Two further investors have subscribed for 5,199,999 new Ordinary Shares at the same Issue Price, raising a further £78,000, of which £50,000 is subscribed in cash and £28,000 by an adviser to the Company who has elected to receive Ordinary Shares in place of a cash fee. The Subscriptions therefore comprise 43,733,266 new Ordinary Shares (the “Subscription Shares”) raising £655,999 in aggregate.
The Issue Price represents a premium of 3.4% to the closing mid-market price of 1.45 pence per Ordinary Share on 28 August 2026.
The Subscription Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the Company’s existing Ordinary Shares.
Following completion of the Subscriptions, the Company will hold 72.941 BTC in its Bitcoin treasury, an increase of 15.9%, and an increase in Bitcoin per Share of 6.34% (fully diluted) and 5.02% (issued).
Adam Back is a significant shareholder in XCE and has been a longstanding supporter of the Company’s strategy. The Company considers the Back Subscription to further demonstrate the alignment of its strategic investors with XCE’s long-term approach to combining the growth of its executive recruitment operations with a disciplined Bitcoin treasury strategy. Following Admission, Adam Back will hold 135,482,474 Ordinary Shares in the Company, representing 29.0% of the Company’s enlarged issued share capital.
Shareholders are referred to the Company’s separate announcement released today, in which the Company announces heads of terms for the Group’s first acquisition of an operating business, together with a trading update.
Treasury Summary:
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Total BTC Holdings: 72.9410*
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Average BTC Purchase Price: £60,190.03 ($81,575.57)
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Value of BTC Purchased to date: £4,215,928.12** ($5,713,920.57)
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BTC Yield*** from IPO: 528.4% (fully diluted) / 544.2% (issued)
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BTC Yield (QTD): 6.34% (fully diluted) / 5.02% (issued)
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Bitcoin per Share: 13.7428 sats (fully diluted) / 15.6358 sats (issued)
* Includes 10 BTC held in relation to XCE’s 2026 Bitcoin-denominated convertible bond programme
**Using a BTC GBP price of £57,799.90
***As defined below and upon XCE BTC Bond conversion
All conversions to USD use a USD to GBP exchange rate of $1.3553, which is at the date of the final Bitcoin purchases announced above.
The Company reports Bitcoin per Share and BTC Yield on both a fully diluted and an issued share basis. The fully diluted basis is that used in the Company’s previous announcements and is retained for comparability. It includes Ordinary Shares which are not guaranteed to be issued and which are issued only on the achievement of individual, operating company and Group performance triggers set so that any resulting issue is accretive to shareholders. The issued share basis is presented alongside it so that shareholders can see the position on the shares actually in issue.
Related Party
The Back Subscription constitutes a related party transaction pursuant to Rule 4.6 of the AQSE Growth Market Access Rulebook, Adam Back being a substantial shareholder in the Company. The Directors consider that having exercised reasonable care, skill and diligence, the related party transaction is fair and reasonable as far as the shareholders of the Group are concerned.
Admission and Total Voting Rights
An application will be made for the admission of the Subscription Shares to trading on the Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market (“Admission”).
Admission is expected to occur on or around 8 September 2026.
Following Admission, the Company will have 466,498,953 Ordinary Shares in issue, each carrying one voting right. The Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury. Therefore, following Admission, the total number of voting rights in the Company will be 466,498,953, and that figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they determine whether they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
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Connecting Excellence Group (“XCE”) Scott Ellam, Chief Executive Officer Angus Gladish, Chief Financial Officer |
Tel: +44(0) 113 390 8623 |
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AlbR Capital Limited (Aquis Corporate Adviser and Joint Broker) David Coffman Daniel Harris |
Tel: +44(0) 20 7469 0930 |
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Allenby Capital (Joint Broker) Matt Butlin (Head of Sales) Nick Harriss |
Tel: +44(0) 20 3328 5656 |
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Yellow Jersey PR (Financial PR) Charles Goodwin Annabelle Wills |
Tel: +44(0) 20 3004 9512 |
The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.
This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was inside information as stipulated under Regulation 11 of the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310 (as amended).
About Connecting Excellence Group Plc (“XCE”):
XCE is an international executive recruitment group operating a decentralised acquisition and revenue-generating hiring strategy, combined with a long term, ambitious and disciplined Bitcoin treasury strategy as its active balance sheet. Acquired businesses retain their brand, management and day-to-day autonomy. 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. XCE also expands 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
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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.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
SOURCE: Connecting Excellence Group PLC
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
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