Staffline Group PLC (LON:STAF) shares plunged on Monday after the recruitment firm said it would scrap its dividend and raise £37mln from a share issue and open offer to cut debt.
The company said it would release its 2018 results on June 27 after a lengthy delay.
READ: Staffline's terrible year continues as it issues Brexit-related profit warning
Exceptional costs
It raised the expected costs associated with a breach of UK wage rules between 2013 and 2018 to £15.1mln from an earlier estimate of £7.9mln following a further review of the compliance issues.
The group said the non-compliance of rules relates to a “limited number of food production facilities and the payment for preparation time, which is generally the time spent donning workwear”.
“These procedures have now been rectified so that all work related time is paid in accordance with current legislation,” Staffline said.
Additional exceptional costs of £1.8mln relating to an extended audit of the business are expected to be incurred in 2018, taking total one-off charges for the year to £32.6mln.
In May, Staffline had warned that it was facing headwinds in its training and recruitment divisions.
On Monday, it said it may require a waiver of possible future breaches to the leverage covenant in its lending agreements.
Equity raise and open offer
The company said “constructive discussions” with lenders were ongoing and it has started talks with investors regarding a placing of ordinary shares to raise about £30mln.
Staffline also plans to launch an open offer to raise an extra £7mln.
In light of these discussions, the board has decided to scrap its final dividend for the 2018 financial year, it said.
The firm repeated its full-year guidance for underlying earnings (EBIT) of £23-28mln, before proceeds of any equity capital raise. Net debt is expected to be in line with market forecasts.
"Whilst the time taken to announce our 2018 financial results is frustrating, we look forward to posting these results at the end of June at which point we expect the business to return to normalised trading,” chief executive Chris Pullen said.
“Staffline continues to enjoy a unique position in its markets and once this episode is behind us we are confident of a return to future growth."
Shares fell 30% to 166p in morning trading.