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.
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Treasury Summary:
Total BTC Holdings: 72.9410* Average BTC Purchase Price: £60,190.03 ($81,575.57) Value of BTC Purchased to date: £4,215,928.12** ($5,713,920.57) BTC Yield*** from IPO: 528.4% (fully diluted) / 544.2% (issued) BTC Yield (QTD): 6.34% (fully diluted) / 5.02% (issued) 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.
Connecting Excellence Group ("XCE")
Scott Ellam, Chief Executive Officer
Angus Gladish, Chief Financial Officer contact@xce.io
Tel: +44(0) 113 390 8623 AlbR Capital Limited (Aquis Corporate Adviser and Joint Broker)
David Coffman
Daniel Harris Tel: +44(0) 20 7469 0930 Allenby Capital (Joint Broker)
Matt Butlin (Head of Sales)
Nick Harriss Tel: +44(0) 20 3328 5656 Yellow Jersey PR (Financial PR)
Charles Goodwin
Annabelle Wills xce@yellowjerseypr.com
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"):