Launch of XCE’s EMI Options Scheme

Connecting Excellence Group PLC

09 October 2026

 

9 October 2026

Connecting Excellence Group Plc

(“Connecting Excellence Group”, “XCE”, the “Group” or the “Company”)

Launch of XCE’s EMI Options Scheme

Connecting Excellence Group Plc (AQSE: XCE / OTCQB: XCELF), the international executive and specialist recruitment group with a long-term Bitcoin (BTC) treasury strategy, is pleased to announce that it has granted options over a total of 52,980,000 ordinary shares under the Company’s Enterprise Management Incentive ("EMI") Options Scheme and its unapproved share option scheme (as set out in the Admission Document dated 10 December 2025) to Directors, a Board adviser and employees across the Group.

Highlights

• Options over 52,980,000 ordinary shares granted, all at an exercise price of 2.1p, the IPO placing price.
• Unapproved share option scheme – linked to share price growth: 11,000,000 options to the Non-Executive Directors and a Board adviser, as set out in the Company’s Admission Document of December 2025. 30% vest on grant; the remaining 70% vest in seven tranches of 10% as the share price reaches 4.2p, 10.5p, 21p, 31.5p, 42p, 52.5p and 63p (2x to 30x the IPO placing price).
• EMI share option scheme – 41,980,000 options: 12,000,000 to the Executive Directors on the same share price tranches, as set out in the Admission Document, and 29,980,000 to 24 employees across the Group, with a typical fee earner’s award being up to 1,000,000 options over three years. Employee options are linked to revenue growth: earned over three financial years against individual sales revenue performance targets for fee earners, and against tenure and business performance for the minority who are operations staff.
• Designed to reward the Group’s people only as the share price and revenue grow, and to be accretive to shareholders.

 

The XCE EMI Options Scheme

The Directors believe that it is important for the success and growth of the Company to employ and engage highly motivated personnel and that equity incentives are available to attract, retain, incentivise and reward employees, directors and consultants. The EMI Options Scheme also forms a core part of the Group’s growth strategy to attract other executive recruitment companies to join the Group and use XCE’s platform to drive further growth and profitability.

As previously detailed in the Company’s Aquis admission document (“Admission Document”), the Company created an initial share option pool totalling 42,000,000 options, comprising 11,000,000 unapproved options for Non-Executive Directors and a Board adviser and 31,000,000 EMI options, at the time of admission to the Aquis Growth Market (“Admission”). The EMI options included 10,569,000 options to be granted at the Company’s discretion to new and existing non-director / PDMR employees and consultants at future dates (together the “Options”). The Option pool was made, and remains, valid for five years from 11 December 2025, which was the date of Admission. The EMI Scheme enables the Company to grant options in respect of ordinary shares with a nominal value of £0.000001 each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares"). Part IV of the Admission Document set out details of the exercise price for the Options granted to Directors and PDMRs, being 2.1p, the placing price at Admission, and vesting criteria.

Over the course of the EMI Options Scheme, the Directors expect to issue options over Ordinary Shares of up to approximately 12% of the total issued share capital following Admission (“Enlarged Share Capital”), equating to 45,859,882 options, subject to appropriate vesting and/or performance conditions. The Company confirms that, in accordance with best corporate governance practices, the total number of Ordinary Shares that may be issued under any incentive plan adopted by the Company will not exceed 12% of the Company's Enlarged Share Capital from time to time without the prior approval of Shareholders. This limit is fixed by reference to the issued share capital at Admission and is in addition to the 42,000,000 options set out in the Admission Document. The 10,980,000 options granted above the 42,000,000 fall within it.

Options over 23,000,000 Ordinary Shares have been granted to four Directors and a Board adviser under the Company's EMI Options Scheme (12,000,000 options) and unapproved share option scheme (11,000,000 options), as set out below.

Director/PDMR	Position	Number of Options Awarded	Exercise price (pence)
Scott Ellam	CEO	10,000,000 (EMI)	2.1p
Angus Gladish	CFO	2,000,000 (EMI)	2.1p
Sam Roberts	Non-Executive Chairman	1,000,000 (unapproved)	2.1p
Vijay Selvam	Non-Executive Director	5,000,000 (unapproved)	2.1p
Richard Byworth	Board Advisor	5,000,000 (unapproved)	2.1p

The options granted to the Directors and the Board adviser, under both schemes, are linked to share price growth. 30% vest on grant. The remaining 70% vest in seven tranches of 10% each when the share price reaches 2x, 5x, 10x, 15x, 20x, 25x and 30x the placing price at Admission (4.2p, 10.5p, 21p, 31.5p, 42p, 52.5p and 63p). Vested options become exercisable 12 months after vesting.

In addition, EMI options over 29,980,000 Ordinary Shares have been granted to employees across the Group, in accordance with the EMI Options Scheme, also exercisable at an exercise price of 2.1p. In total, options over 52,980,000 Ordinary Shares (41,980,000 EMI options and 11,000,000 unapproved options) have been granted, representing approximately 10.4% of the Company’s current issued share capital.

The employee EMI options are performance-based and linked to revenue growth. Some options, recognising tenure and past performance, vest on grant. The balance is earned over three financial years: by fee earners against individual sales revenue performance targets, and by the minority who are operations staff against tenure and business performance. For example, a typical fee earner’s award is up to 1,000,000 options over three years, with a portion earned each year correlated to the revenue they deliver against their own target. The options are designed to reward staff only as they grow the revenue of the Group, and to be accretive to shareholders.

Scott Ellam, Chief Executive Officer of Connecting Excellence Group, commented:

"Our share option schemes are an integral part of our operating strategy: to attract the best recruitment talent and to align everyone in the Group with the long-term success of XCE. Our people are fundamental to delivering growth, and these schemes make sure they share in the value they create. Our staff earn their options through personal sales revenue performance, and the Board’s options only vest as the share price rises, from 2x to 30x the IPO price. Our people can see the value of their stake and have a clear route to crystallise it in the future. We believe this is one of the most closely aligned shareholder and employee schemes in the market."

Connecting Excellence Group (“XCE”) Scott Ellam, Chief Executive Officer Angus Gladish, Chief Financial Officer	[e-mail] Tel: [phone]
AlbR Capital Limited (Aquis Corporate Adviser and Joint Broker) David Coffman Daniel Harris	Tel: [phone]
Allenby Capital (Joint Broker) Matt Butlin (Head of Equities) Nick Harriss (Corporate Finance)	Tel: [phone]
Yellow Jersey PR (Financial PR) Charles Goodwin Annabelle Wills	[e-mail] Tel: [phone]

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).

The notification below is made in accordance with the requirements of the UK Market Abuse Regulation.

1	Details of the issuer or emission allowance market participant
a)	Name	Connecting Excellence Group PLC
b)	LEI	213800HUP8SVAW1MWF77
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	CEO / PDMR
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Is this a PDMR or PCA Submission	Submission for a PDMR
b)	Name	Scott Ellam
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	Options over Ordinary Shares of £0.000001 each ISIN: GB00BVBHDF21
b)	Nature of the transaction	Grant of EMI options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price No. of Shares 2.1p 10,000,000
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A
e)	Date of the transaction	2026-10-07
f)	Place of the transaction	Outside a trading venue

1	Details of the issuer or emission allowance market participant
a)	Name	Connecting Excellence Group PLC
b)	LEI	213800HUP8SVAW1MWF77
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	CFO / PDMR
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Is this a PDMR or PCA Submission	Submission for a PDMR
b)	Name	Angus Gladish
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	Options over Ordinary Shares of £0.000001 each ISIN: GB00BVBHDF21
b)	Nature of the transaction	Grant of EMI options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price No. of Shares 2.1p 2,000,000
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A
e)	Date of the transaction	2026-10-07
f)	Place of the transaction	Outside a trading venue

1	Details of the issuer or emission allowance market participant
a)	Name	Connecting Excellence Group PLC
b)	LEI	213800HUP8SVAW1MWF77
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	PDMR
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Is this a PDMR or PCA Submission	Submission for a PDMR
b)	Name	Richard Byworth
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	Options over Ordinary Shares of £0.000001 each ISIN: GB00BVBHDF21
b)	Nature of the transaction	Grant of unapproved options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price No. of Shares 2.1p 5,000,000
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A
e)	Date of the transaction	2026-10-08
f)	Place of the transaction	Outside a trading venue

1	Details of the issuer or emission allowance market participant
a)	Name	Connecting Excellence Group PLC
b)	LEI	213800HUP8SVAW1MWF77
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	Non-Executive Director / PDMR
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Is this a PDMR or PCA Submission	Submission for a PDMR
b)	Name	Vijay Selvam
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	Options over Ordinary Shares of £0.000001 each ISIN: GB00BVBHDF21
b)	Nature of the transaction	Grant of unapproved options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price No. of Shares 2.1p 5,000,000
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A
e)	Date of the transaction	2026-10-08
f)	Place of the transaction	Outside a trading venue

1	Details of the issuer or emission allowance market participant
a)	Name	Connecting Excellence Group PLC
b)	LEI	213800HUP8SVAW1MWF77
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	Non-Executive Chairman / PDMR
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Is this a PDMR or PCA Submission	Submission for a PDMR
b)	Name	Sam Roberts
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	Options over Ordinary Shares of £0.000001 each ISIN: GB00BVBHDF21
b)	Nature of the transaction	Grant of unapproved options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price No. of Shares 2.1p 1,000,000
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A
e)	Date of the transaction	2026-10-08
f)	Place of the transaction	Outside a trading venue

About Connecting Excellence Group Plc (“XCE”):

XCE is an international executive and specialist recruitment group with a long-term Bitcoin treasury strategy. The Group acquires, owns and grows profitable specialist recruitment businesses, which it holds permanently and which retain their brands, management and day-to-day independence.

XCE acquires executive and specialist recruitment businesses across sectors and geographies. It holds Bitcoin as a long-term reserve asset, designed to strengthen its balance sheet and support the growth of the Group.

Website: xce.io

Follow on X: XCE - Connecting Excellence Group

Follow on Linkedin: XCE - Connecting Excellence Group

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.

 

END