Good morning, and welcome to the Staffline Group PLC Trading Update Investor Presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors will be in listen-only mode. Questions are encouraged, and they can be submitted at any time using the Q&A tab situated on the right-hand corner of your screen. Simply type in your questions and press 'Send'. The company may not be in a position to answer every question received during the meeting itself. However, the company can review all questions submitted today and publish responses where it is appropriate to do so. Before we begin, I would like to submit the following poll, and I would now like to hand you over to CEO, Albert Ellis. Good morning to you.
Good morning, everybody, and thank you for joining us on this slightly chilly morning, being beamed out from Central London. We're delighted to be here with you, following our trading update this morning at 7:00 A.M. I'm joined by Daniel, Daniel Quint, my erstwhile CFO. And of course, my name is Albert Ellis, I'm the CEO of the Staffline Group. Thank you for joining, and I just wanted to start, as we always do, with a brief reminder that the group is in a very, very strong position, and much of the positive news that's come out this morning has the result of the leading market positioning which the group commands. 35,000 temp workers, the largest by volume, blue-collar recruiter in the country.
We're over 400 sites with customers right across England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Republic. And of course, we've got many thousands of learners in prisons, where in PeoplePlus, we are performing a vital role in education in prisons. So with that, we're going to start with the, Daniel's gonna take us through the highlights in a minute, and I'll be back in.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much, Albert, and Happy New Year to everyone, still, I think. Pleased to take you through the key numbers and the key headlines from our trading update this morning. So again, just a challenging backdrop of 2023. We set ourselves the aim of growing market share, and that's something we've achieved, as is illustrated by revenue growth of 1.1%, which is comparatively a good performance in the sector. This has been underpinned by expansion of strategic partnerships and renewals and contract wins, which Albert will speak about a little later. Additionally, driven by those good trading conditions, we delivered a good net cash number of GBP 3.8 million on a pre-IFRS 16 basis.
That is ahead of expectations that the market had for us, and allowed us to carry out a GBP 5 million share buyback program. Finally, we ended the year with really strong levels of banking facility headroom of GBP 60 million+ . So that summary, against that challenging market and economic backdrop, is something that we're, we're pleased to be entering 2024 with. Bit more of the detail about that now.
You'll see that our underlying operating profit is in line with expectations, and although the revenue was up 1.1%, we did see, of course, some of the similarities of other realities in the recruitment sector flow through to our numbers as well, where gross profit was down 2.1%, which is a mixture of some of the softening in permanent recruitment activity, as well as some of the higher margin contracts in PeoplePlus coming to an end, and therefore, that flowing through to gross profit.
But what's very important, of course, as we enter 2024 with, as Albert will comment later, some improvement, potentially in consumer demand, especially as inflation decreases and interest rates possibly come down, is that we have 90%, plus of temporary worker activity in our group, and that's helped us be resilient in 2023, and will continue to support us as we come into 2024, with consumer demand, hopefully turning a corner. Just coming to the balance sheet and net cash, I think very important to recognize that we had strong trading cashflow in 2023, being materially ahead of expectations, as I said. But we're left with an excellent strong balance sheet as we come into 2024.
Leverage at low and 0.5x EBITDA, interest rate cover at 3.5x , and still protected by our interest rate cap through to October of this year, 2024. At the end of last year, we refinanced our banking facilities, so they're extended now for another four years, with improved terms. And we're, you know, really pleased with that position as we enter a year, 2024, with potential opportunity for economic recovery, and all the banking facilities that allow us to take advantage of that potential position. And finally, just to comment on the net cash bridge, and you'll see this on screen as I've presented it. We wanted to point out that actually, we grew before share buybacks of GBP 5 million, and growth working capital investment of GBP 2 million.
We actually grew cash by GBP 5.8 million, from GBP 5 million- GBP 10.8 million, but then we invested that in those two areas of our activity, the share buybacks and in our peak activity, when we were able to grow and invest in working capital and grow the opportunities for the business over the medium term. So, the delivery of those numbers during 2023 allows us to come into 2024 with a very strong balance sheet, and some good tailwinds there. I'll hand back to Albert now, just to take us through some of the key operational highlights of 2023.
Thank you, Daniel. Well, if you were with us at the half year, you would have noticed that we had quite a mountain to climb. First half of this year in the U.K. certainly was a very challenging period. You remember that it was the back end of the energy crisis. Interest rates had taken off, and there was lots of doom and gloom, and our customers were affected by this, and therefore demand was impacted. In particular, the U.K. GB recruitment business was impacted. Customers sending temps back, you know, not seeing demand in the shops and in the retail stores. And so the first six months was challenging, and so we had a mountain to climb, but we had a pathway, and we were confident.
We set out our objectives, and we've listed them on the left-hand side there, and I'm just going to touch on the outcomes for you. So under the first point, organic market share growth, the business really made a huge step in this direction with GXO Logistics, one of the world's largest pure-play logistics firms, American-based, listed on the stock market in the U.S. Very substantial business, highly acquisitive, fast-growing, one of our key customers. We secured a significant expansion in that business, and indeed, it came on stream in the second half of this year. Not the sort of elevated levels we were expecting, but because the economy was a bit softer, as you see, retail sales were a bit down, but it certainly all delivered as we expected.
And then the Republic of Ireland, really a major strategic win there, with the police force in the Republic of Ireland. We're gonna be doing back office, administrative, operational hiring for them, for the next two years. And this is in an area where we set out our stall, in terms of our strategy, to be stronger and larger, and that's in the Republic. And then, you know, last but not least, Morrisons, a very major retailer, in the food business. We expanded our market share there.
We have almost 100% sole suppliership, both in Morrisons and AMFresh, and then at Tesco and M&S, both of those retailers doing very well during the Christmas period, and as we were extending our market share and our footprint within them, and indeed, we extended the contracts that we had. So very, very good performance on market share growth. Now, the second point is, where are we going to see the traditional peak? And there was a lot of nervousness in the market up to, and including Christmas. But as you've seen, even indeed this morning, with Evri, the online logistics business, how they've delivered record parcels over the Christmas period, and indeed, you know, there have been good reports of the Christmas peak in many areas coming in line.
So we expected to see an increase, and indeed, in quarter four, we saw 5% up, and this compares to 12% down in the first half. So it shows you the sort of game of two halves that 2023 was, was revealed itself to be. We did exit the skills market as we promised at the half- year, that is all detailed in the statement. And then finally, consumer sentiment indicators. You know, this is a mixed bag, because whilst we were seeing a little bit of positives and some light at the end of the tunnel, inflation persistent, obviously coming down, but still elevated. But retail sales, you know, were tipped to have fallen quarter four versus three, and I think the market was a bit disappointed about that.
That would have affected our logistics, some of our logistics businesses and also our retailers. So what we've done in the next slide is just give you the brand names of some of our largest clients, where we've added in there at the top, An Garda Síochána, which is the police force of Republic of Ireland, as a key win. We'll be working with them as their key strategic recruitment partner. Another name just to mention is Sainsbury's. They also, you know, had a robust Christmas, and also we are looking to help them indeed expand our business there. So there, there's the names, and there's some of the detail in terms of sites with GXO, and the sorts of contracts that we've enjoyed in the second half.
This was our strategy, was to really drive organic growth while the market was uncertain. Onto the advertised vacancies, which is a, you know, some stats that obsesses some of the economists in the market. As you would have known, if you've been reading and, you know, if you've been putting your head into a business section of any newspaper or broadsheet, every now and again, there's a doom and gloom article on, you know, falling vacancies. And indeed, you can see from May and June, you can see the vacancy data has been falling, and that's been widely reported by Michael Page G roup, and Hays, and also by Robert Walters in the last two weeks, that the permanent recruitment market is actually in decline.
You can see that it started in, you know, earlier in the year, but actually, the steeper falls are in November and December, which is obviously in line with, with the recruitment sectors reporting over the last 10 days. I will say two things about this. One is, we've been at very high and elevated levels. As you can see, if you go back to the beginning of COVID, we're still actually ahead of the first 6-9 months of the 2-year period, the 3-year period under review, but. The second point, and more important point, is customers tend to postpone their hiring activities, particularly if there's a lot of uncertainty in November and December. You get lots of international companies working on December year-ends, will just postpone those starts into January.
Indeed, when we've looked at our permanent recruitment business, or white collar in particular, with the Omega engineering niche, we have seen that whilst we also suffered a little bit of a downturn in the quarter four, we actually are seeing that the first quarter is relatively okay, and our January starts are in line with expectations. So a little bit of a bounce back. So I, I'm very interested to see the next set of stats, which will tell us, as Hays put it, what the return to work looks like.
And then, in companies' view, this was an outlook view, so it's not perfect in the sense that it's a—it's, you know, the REC and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, they canvas their members, and they get a reading. So this is sort of not perfect, but it does give you a direction of travel, and you can see it's, you know, companies' view of their own prospects are slightly improving, although they remain pessimistic about the overall economy, which I see is still in the negative. So, you know, a mixed view there from the market in terms of recruitment. We are a 90% temp business, therefore we're slightly adjacent to this market. In fact, if customers are quite nervous about hiring, they will tend to use temps more.
Indeed, in the last recession, Staffline did see a surge in temps towards the end of the recovery. You know, once the recovery set in and once the economic, economic stats started to improve. With that, I'm gonna come to the outlook. I'm gonna spend a bit of time with some of the macros and also PeoplePlus in particular, as we haven't really spoken too much about PeoplePlus or Ireland. But starting with the macros. Look, headwinds are gonna continue. I'm not going to stand out as someone who doesn't believe that headwinds are in the market, when all of the sector reporting at the moment is uncertain.
But I will say this, that it, it'll affect permanent recruitment, of which we have about 5%-10%, 90% of our business is temp, and it will affect, confidence, of course. So, you know, volumes and demand in our end customers may still be affected. But we do think that this year will hit signal, you know, some sort of recovery. We don't know when, but the macroeconomic environment is going to stay challenging, we believe. In PeoplePlus, it's been a year of mixed fortunes. One, we've had to close and exit a business, skills, where in-person, classroom-based training is just really not economic in a high inflation environment, and where we have high levels of employment, and low levels of unemployment. So, we've exited that market.
But we've seen super success in Justice, where we've been extended during the year for two years, and indeed, we've now bid for, you know, about GBP 400 million worth of Justice contracts over the next. S tretching from 2025 through, you know, and some of them are up to 10 years. So we've got the largest bid pipeline that I've seen since I've been associated with the business. And of course, we had the tough decision to make, you know, very recently, where we looked at all of our options, and we decided not to cut costs further in PeoplePlus, but to maintain the transformation. The new management team is setting in well, and to invest in our bid and operational capacity. We've got lots and lots of bids outstanding.
We're waiting, indeed, in the next two quarters for some results, and then in the second half, we'll be hearing about our big Justice bids, where we're bidding for more than we currently have. That, of course, means that profits will be hit this year, and we've indicated by about 65%-67%, but we're looking through that to the upside. And if we win these contracts that we're very positive about, we will see that impact 2025, 2026 and 2027, and indeed give the business some really some real visibility. So on to recruitment. Recruitment is 80% in terms of our results of the business.
Yeah, as I said, customers are facing headwinds, and permanent recruitment is certainly not expected to improve in the short term, other than in niches like engineering in the public sector. We think that that's a little bit more resilient, and while it doesn't boom, it also has minimum levels of recruitment, and we'll see that in Ireland this year, I think a little bit more. But our efficiency programs, which we've detailed in the statement, those cost-cutting programs where we've taken a view that we need to keep our cost base very tight with the inflationary pressure on wages and salaries and on staff and employees. We've had to make those productivity savings to pay for some of the inflationary pressures.
And so I'm delighted that the management team have done that and delivered these savings. The Garda contract, I can't emphasize how important this is for us. We've been investing in the Republic of Ireland for some time, and this is a landmark win, our first win of real scale in the market, and just delighted for the team in Ireland that they've managed to achieve this, and their numbers will jump this year, as a result of that. And you know, more power to them, absolutely delighted. And my final comments are that the blue- collar temps will be in demand. H2 2023, we saw growth. That should continue into H1 2024. You know, H1 2023 was very tough.
H1 2024, I think, h opefully, we will be showing some increases, and that will, you know, that will annualize out, and that will support the results. And then finally, just on a few thoughts around the business from a financial point of view, not wanting to step on Daniel's toes, but as an investor myself, I'm delighted that 2024 is going to have a positive profit after tax, with no amortization, no goodwill write-offs, or amortizations that we've faced in the past. You know, certainly we're looking at a higher cash generation year in 2024 than we've seen for many years. A clean year, a year that the businesses have been transformed. We're not budgeting for a recovery in 2024.
We're looking through 2024 into 2025 and 2026, where we'll see the fruits of our market share growth, as the economy improves during that time. So with that, thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. It's just a short presentation. We're on pre-close trading update today, so don't wanna waste too much of your time, and very happy to answer questions.
Yeah. Thank you, Albert. So we are now going to answer some of the questions that have already been posted. There have been a couple, one or two, that have already been pre-questioned, and we'll continue to answer the ones that you post in the question and answer page on your right-hand side. So Albert, the first one for you on the right-hand side.
Yes. A question about shareholders being rewarded, and you know, asking us whether resuming a dividend payment would be better money spent than on buybacks. Well, the buyback lobby posed the same question to us, whether we should be focusing on buybacks, and that would be better spent than, particularly at low levels, when the share price is at these levels, whether that would represent more value for shareholders. So we have the two competing arguments all the time on the board.
The debate rages outside of the company with our investors, and indeed, we make sure that with our investors and with the board and with our advisors and everybody, all of our stakeholders, that we make the right decision when it comes to shareholder returns. And at this point, you know, we have felt over the last 12 months that we got good value for our share buybacks, and we reduced the shares by 10%. And as you know, that means if you're a continuing shareholder, your value would have increased in terms of your share of earnings.
Thank you, Albert. Second question, which I think you may respond to as well, is a bit more detail about the Republic of Ireland Garda contract, what type of staffing we're providing, how long it's for, and how significant it is to the division in Ireland?
Yes. I mean, certainly in the Republic, it's very significant. I would say, though, our Northern Ireland business is the market leader and is 20% of the market in Northern Ireland. So, they're very used to t he team in Belfast are very used to winning material contracts in Ireland. But the Republic, where we've been investing in the last few years, this is, this is definitely a landmark win for us. And the nature of the business of the recruitment is, is back office finance support, and administrative. Obviously, frontline is a totally separate activity, which is undertaken by the Garda themselves, but all other recruitment will be done by us.
It's for two years initially, and we're expecting, you know, over GBP 1 million worth of fees, and we would expect a healthy flow-through from that. As we've actually already made the investment in Ireland to cope with that sort of growth, we won't have the sort of cost increases that we would normally associate with winning a large contract. And this was a strategic position we took two years ago, which was to maintain our infrastructure, our operational capacity. It's the same strategy we're doing with PeoplePlus, so that when we win, we can actually deliver, we can mobilize.
Thank you, Albert. Next question, for me, which is: To what extent is the strong cash balance a function of slightly lower volumes versus good working capital management? Actually, it's, it's a result of good working capital management, because our cash position at the end of the year is actually directly impacted by volumes in the last 4, 5, 6 weeks of the year, and those volumes are actually higher. As Albert already talked about, our chargeable hours in our main division of Recruitment GB, in the last quarter, Q4 of 2023, were up 5%. So the, the cash balance is a, a direct result of strong working capital management across all three of our divisions, whether that's Recruitment GB, the team in Ireland, and PeoplePlus.
All teams are really humming and have really delivered a very strong year in terms of maintaining tight control over cash collections and working with our customers and suppliers to that end. Next question is: How should we think, be thinking about capital allocation going forward? Is there an intention to do more share buybacks? I think from the first question that Albert answered, you can probably take an indication that that's very possible, I think is a fair answer to that question. Next question: Brokers' views has reduced both 2024, 2025 forward earnings forecast by around 30%. Can you give some more color on why the future trading outlook has deteriorated by so much?
I think, Albert, well, we in our trading statements, and Albert in a number of comments today regarding PeoplePlus and the slight commissioning trough we're in has meant that's been the key driver as to why there's been that downgrade. Clearly, additionally, if the recovery had come earlier, if the economic recovery had come earlier, maybe in 2023, then clearly the recruit business would be further along sooner. Although they performed very well comparatively in 2023, and with the Garda contract, 2024, Ireland looks strong. But those would be the key drivers with PeoplePlus being the primary one, and economic recovery and the lag driven by those interest rate increases from last year just delaying some of that consumer sentiment, improvement a little bit, as to why that's just been pulled out a year further on. I don't know, Albert, if you have anything-
Yeah. I mean, I'd like to just add that first of all, in terms of operational underlying EBIT, that number is around about 25%. The forward earnings forecast also contains some interest because of higher interest rates. So there's 2 elements there. So the operational EBIT is down by about 25%, and that is over 12 months, not just in the last. It's over a 12-month period, that's been the total downgrade. And you know that there's been significant deterioration in the market since January 2022, and geopolitically, the world is in a much more dangerous place. So that is the extent of the downgrade. A 12-month period is 25%.
However, if you look at the sector, Page is in the middle at about mid-30%, 30%, 38% over the last 12 months, and indeed, double digits just in the last month. Walters is, you know, is slightly less, probably in the mid-20%. And, if you look at Hays, that's the largest downgrade over the last 12 months. Their, at 2024 outlook has been, adjusted downwards by almost 60%. I think it's the exact number's around the mid-50%, high 50%, 58%. So in that sort of context, we have not seen, the downgrade in outlook over the 12 months that the rest of the sector has seen, and ours is specifically to do with the look-through impact of the PeoplePlus commissioning cycle. We're in, the last year of this government.
Governments don't tend to spend money or commission large initiatives in their final year, so there's a political hiccup that one always gets, which will hopefully be fired up by any new incoming administration, which is likely to be 2025, 2026. We've also got all of the bids that we've bid for now coming in 2025, 2026. So we're looking through that downgrade this year, to be honest, and looking to the value of PeoplePlus to us as an enterprise.
Thank you, Albert. Some more questions. Another one about, with the net cash being higher than expected, is that free cash up for share buybacks? I think I've answered that already. Another question about dividends, which Albert answered first off. Another question here: "The bid pipeline at PeoplePlus is impressive at GBP 400 million. One assumes that competition will be tough. Do you envisage PeoplePlus returning to previous high margins, or this business transition to a lower, lower margin business?
Very good question, and you are right, that it is, I mean, the actual number, I think, is GBP 400 million for Justice, GBP 250 million for Employability, and GBP 200 million for other contracts, community services, local authorities, and other contracts. So some significant numbers there, that in the bid pipeline. Yes, the Justice ones are the ones where we have the most market share, and but we are targeting higher market share because we're performing well in Justice. In the prisons, we're the highest performing business in terms of the performance and the measurements, the KPIs in which you judge, we are the highest in our market. So, we're confident that we can win.
We're also very enthusiastic to bring new practice and to bring best practice to all of the prisons in which we're working, and we're doing that in the Employability arena as well, specifically Restart. We really are performing well in Restart, and where we are struggling a little bit, we are actually looking at best practice, and we're totally focused on our operational excellence. So we're confident in the prospects for PeoplePlus, but, you know, the world is actually in a high inflation environment, and that has affected margins of all companies, particularly services companies, where getting the best people can cost, can cost. And so, you know, we would look to seek to maintain our margins in the edium term as opposed to improve them. That would be, you know, that would be a good result for us.
Thank you, Albert. Just a few other questions here. Scope for further buybacks, we've answered that question already. Regarding the receivables facility at year-end, yeah, very low drawdown at year-end in terms of our financing, and we're in net cash position, so nil drawdown at the moment. Talking through some of the opportunities for PeoplePlus, I think, Albert, you covered that just now. And what do we see as the impact of increased regulation in the market for Recruitment GB? Albert, you might wanna just-
Yeah, I mean, the impact of the regulation, look, we're seeing lots of government and opposition talk about flexible markets, how good they are, what are the weaknesses in terms of job security? Specifically, the Labour administration is talking about how they can ensure their companies guarantee minimum hours, which we're of course in favor of, in terms of people working a minimum set hours, so that they can earn the sort of money that they wish to earn. We wouldn't like to see, you know, a sort of iron fist approach, which has unintended consequences, but we're very encouraging of our clients giving our teams and our temps some job security and minimum hours.
Those are the big regulatory pushes we see, and we see them as endorsing our very high level and high compliance and good work strategy. We see that supporting us. We also see the actions against tax evasion, particularly in the sort of gray market of national insurance and other areas where you see umbrella company. You might have read about umbrella companies and other vehicles, offshore trusts and loans, and some of the television presenters have been involved and have been, you know, actually publicly been hurt by those schemes. I mean, we did not have anything to do with that sort of gray market, and indeed, it works to our favor, and our customers do not want to be involved.
So we see our compliance and our good work strategy as actually a supporting strut for our strategy.
Thank you, Albert. A few more questions. PwC suggests that hiring is likely to pick up generally in FY 2024. We broadly in agreement with this? I think our comments are that we are broadly in agreement with that. When that happens, of course, is the question, but I'm sure interest rates reductions possibly and potentially the sixth of March budget statement by the Chancellor may have a bit to do with that as well. Is the focus still on organic growth? And if so, do you expect to anticipate further contract wins during FY 2024 to increase market share?
Yes and yes.
Yes and yes. Are there any issues with days beyond terms? No, we at the moment always have small things around the outside, but at the moment, we are, you know, keeping a really tight ship in all of our businesses, specifically the recruitment businesses. The finance and credit control team is doing an excellent job there. Historically, as the recruitment market recovers, those who've struggled financially during the recession can find the working capital requirement of the recovery, the final straw. Are you aware of any of your direct competitors being in financial distress? I think it's fair to say that we come into this year as we did last year, with a strong balance sheet.
As the only listed large-scale blue-collar recruiter, I think that gives a level of transparency and insight into our business that our customers may not have from other businesses. And I'm sure there are some businesses which are finding it quite challenging out there, but with headroom of over GBP 60 million in our business, we're pleased to be entering 2024 in that position. Almost GBP 1 billion turn. Next question, almost billion, GBP 1 billion turnover for another year, but no substantial profit. How long can this go on? Well, I think it's important, the key measure in our group is gross profit, and that's where the fees are attracted and come into play. The GBP 1 billion turnover includes temporary worker salaries, which of course, are affected by inflation.
I think the performance in 2023 was resilient, especially on a comparative basis to the recruitment sector in general. And, it's very important to see that, and the group continues to drive its organic growth strategy that delivers ongoing growth in that sector. Next question, in comparison to competitors, how have you fared? Have you seen any changes with your competitors, etc. ? I think it's fair to say that our competitors have all reported their trading updates over the last two weeks, and Albert's already commented on that.
And that our 90%+ temporary worker base provides some defense to the softening in permanent recruitment, which we have seen a little bit of, but of course, with 90% being in temp, then we do see some of the defensiveness and resilience in around that in the last 12 months. So, we see ourselves as holding up quite well on a comparative basis. Have any of your major shareholders taken advantage of the share buybacks? Yes, a number of our major shareholders have. And so, that it has been a successful process that we carried out last year to the tune of GBP 5 million. And how much do you anticipate to pay in interest costs next year?
Well, as we move towards March and our results, we'll see further information coming through regarding interest rates. A lot does depend on interest rates over the coming year, but through to the end of October, we are protected by our interest rate cap. So therefore, I wouldn't necessarily in 2024 expect any material differences from the current level of interest rates. And I think that brings the questions to a close. So, thank you very much. Albert, does anyone want to say the last final word?
Yes. I mean, after two years of growth, exceeding expectations in 2021, 2022, we faced very challenging macros last year, along with the rest of the sector, but we delivered in line with our targets. And the group delivered an excellent cash flow result, which, you know, I've always believed that cash is king, particularly in a downturn. And that's where indeed we did excel. It's still too early in the year. We're not budgeting for a recovery in the first half. The economic backdrop, I think, will be mixed, and we'll be. We'll see a range of reporting.
Every is a good one this morning with a, you know, very, very good Christmas for the online parcel market, and retail sales was down last week, reported that it was lower in quarter four than it was in quarter three. So with that, we'll continue. We will, however, see our market share gains continue to increase. Some of our direct competitors, locally, in the blue-collar market, are struggling. We're seeing that. It's particularly with tightening credits and higher interest rates. Many of these companies rely on debt to grow. And our cost savings underpin the strength of the profit after tax result that we're going to be generating this year, clean, clean results with higher cash than last year. So we really are optimistic about that. We've got a tremendous range of blue-chip clients.
You know, those are just some of the tip of the iceberg there. And with the Republic's win of the Garda contracts in the Republic of Ireland, I'm excited and expecting us to be able to use that win and leverage the expertise in other areas. So with that, we remain confident in the group's prospects. You know, we're glad that 2023 and COVID is behind us, and actually, you know, the economic recovery will unfold at some point, and when it does, we're perfectly poised. Thank you very much.
Perfect. Albert, Daniel, thank you very much indeed for updating investors today. Could I please ask investors not to close this session, as you will now be automatically redirected to provide your feedback, and we know that the board can better understand your views and expectations. This will only take a few moments to complete, and I'm sure will be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team of Staffline Group PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation, and good morning to you all.