XCE - Connecting Excellence Group retweeted
In March 2020 we moved the business into Leeds.
It was a perfect example of governments meaning to do the right thing by printing money into a crisis. It distorts the free market for business and enterprise.
They are going to print significantly more money again at some point. It feels like there's a menu of crises being built.
Not investment advice. DYOR.
With George Boyd and @Peterlane1985 on @btclg_podcast
@XCEofficial
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
BUILD + BUY.
Two complementary ways to grow XCE.
BUILD: Attract high-performing recruiters, give them the opportunity to participate in the Group, and grow our existing businesses.
BUY: Acquire profitable, owner-managed specialist recruitment firms that fit our model.
Our first acquisition, James Gray Recruitment and James Gray Engineering, marked an important step from strategy to execution.
The businesses added £1.79m in revenue and £431k in EBITDA, while retaining their brands, teams and operating independence.
The ambition is to repeat that approach: grow the businesses we have, bring more specialist firms into the Group, and develop our long-term Bitcoin treasury strategy alongside them.
Not growth for growth's sake.
A larger, more profitable operating group — with a disciplined approach to capital allocation.
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
XCE - Connecting Excellence Group retweeted
A recruiter starting out today can perform, earn big bonuses, and still watch house prices run away from them.
Asset prices up. Wages flat. Same story since 1971.
With the Budget next week, expect higher taxes. And inflation is here to stay after it too.
Founder Diaries with @rec_talk 👇
@XCEofficial
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
Building a valuable recruitment business doesn't guarantee an easy exit.
Many specialist firms are profitable, have loyal clients and employ excellent recruiters.
But when the founder wants to step back, the options can be limited.
A trade buyer may want the top billers. Private equity may require a large scale acquisition to make it worthwhile scale or structure. An MBO can be difficult to finance.
The question isn't always how to sell the business.
Sometimes it's how to realise value while preserving what made it successful in the first place.
That's the opportunity we see.
We acquire profitable, owner-managed specialist recruitment businesses, with the intention of retaining their brands, teams and operating independence while giving them a permanent home within a listed Group.
We're not looking to erase what founders have built. We're looking to help it go further.
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
Employees will either think like owners or think about leaving.
What makes the difference?
Ownership.
@btconlyscott , joins Kevin Lim of @VestdHQ for a discussion on how employee ownership can change behaviour, strengthen long-term alignment and help businesses attract and retain ambitious talent.
At XCE, we believe high-performing recruiters should have the opportunity to participate in the value they help create, not just be rewarded for what they bill today.
Join the session to explore why thinking like an owner can change the way people build a business.
🎟️ Find out more and register: events.humanitix.com/employe…
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
XCE - Connecting Excellence Group retweeted
It took over 10 years to truly understand the problem, and four years of running a private BTC balance sheet to design the solution for the executive and specialist recruitment industry.
A listed operating group with a decentralised acquisition strategy – profitable businesses join with performance-based earnings – combined with an active Bitcoin treasury.
🟠 BTC per share up ~48% YTD
📈 Revenue up ~97.4% after our first acquisition
In a challenging capital markets environment, Bitcoin is the cheat code.
@XCEofficial
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
Our first aquisition is complete
@BusinessForSale covers XCE’s first acquisition: James Gray Recruitment and James Gray Engineering.
The numbers:
🟠 £1.79m revenue
🟠 £431k EBITDA
🟠 81.157 BTC in treasury
For XCE, it’s the first step in a repeatable acquisition strategy: acquire profitable specialist recruitment businesses, preserve what makes them successful, and consolidate their value into one listed group.
James Gray keeps its brand, team and operating independence, gaining permanent capital and a listed platform to support its next phase of growth.
Read the coverage: business-sale.com/news/busin…
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
Bitcoin isn't the business.
It's part of the balance sheet.
The operating businesses generate revenue, profit and cash.
The Bitcoin treasury gives XCE a long-term reserve asset and another source of balance-sheet flexibility.
The objective is simple:
Build the operating business.
Build the treasury.
Build the value of the Group.
Over the long term, we believe those things can reinforce each other.
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
Voting is now open for Group 2 of the fifth annual @AquisStockEx Showcase.
The Showcase brings together Aquis-listed companies to pitch their investment case and growth ambitions to investors, with the group stage decided by public vote.
XCE is competing for a place in the live semi-finals and final on 3 November, where an expert judging panel will award the Aquis Showcase Trophy.
Watch our pitch and vote for XCE to help us progress to the next round.
Vote here: lnkd.in/eAHCc2Vc
Voting closes at 10am on Monday 19 October.
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
XCE - Connecting Excellence Group retweeted
Recruitment owners spend their entire career building a business, only to self-fund a management buyout and keep working inside it to pay for it.
That's the exit for most of the 10,000 owner-managed firms out there. There is another way 👀 @XCEofficial
XCE CEO @btconlyscott speaks to @proactive_x.
In a new interview with Proactive, Scott Ellam discusses XCE’s first acquisition, James Gray Recruitment, the Group’s acquisition pipeline and its Bitcoin treasury strategy.
The interview highlights the early evidence behind XCE’s strategy of building a decentralised portfolio of recruitment businesses, with James Gray generating £1.79m of revenue, £1.27m of gross profit and £431k of EBITDA over the past 12 months.
Watch the full interview to hear more about XCE’s acquisition strategy, growth ambitions and approach to building long-term shareholder value.
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
XCE - Connecting Excellence Group retweeted
Last week @XCEofficial did something we believe has not been done before.
We completed an acquisition that roughly doubled Group revenue and grew the Bitcoin treasury at the same time - 8.216 BTC arriving inside the deal, at market value.
One transaction, strengthening operations and balance sheet.
We plan to replicate it across recruitment to the benefit of our shareholders, our teams and the owners who join us.
The rest of the week:
✅ A strong follow-up week from both the Spencer Riley and James Gray teams with high activity.
✅ Friday I was in Glasgow with the James Gray team. First visit since completion - great people, a great business, and a pleasure to meet everyone
🎥 Recorded with @TimKotzman
🎥 Recorded with @GrafYves on the @OneChairPod podcast
🎥 Recorded with @proactive_x on the @RoastPR ✅ The presentation from @BTCtreasuries New York conference and @UKInvestorMAG also went out
✅ XCE announced our share option scheme - what I believe is the most aligned shareholder, board and employee option scheme in the industry. I'd encourage anyone to read the detail.
✅ The acquisition pipeline is strong, and we're seeing a real increase in interest in the XCE model from owners and leaders across recruitment.
Good week behind us. But lots of opportunity to focus on.
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
XCE - Connecting Excellence Group retweeted
The owner keeps the brand and the team carry on exactly as they were - now with permanent capital and a listed platform behind them.
Talking the @XCEofficial model with @proactive_x 🇬🇧
Recruiters are very good at building businesses for other people.
We think they should have the opportunity to own part of the one they're building themselves.
That's why equity is central to XCE.
Salary.
Commission.
Ownership.
The first two reward performance today.
The third gives high-performing recruiters a stake in what their work can become over the long term.
That's a different proposition.
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
70% of XCE’s board options will only vest if the share price reaches specified milestones.
That ties most of the award directly to shareholder value.
We’ve granted 23 million options to four Directors and one Board adviser, at the same 2.1p exercise price as the employee scheme.
30% vests on grant. The remaining 70% is conditional on those milestones being reached, with a further 12-month wait before those options can be exercised.
Leadership has a direct financial stake in building long-term value alongside shareholders.
Full announcement in comments.
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
The people building XCE should share in the value they create.
We’ve granted 29.98 million share options to 24 employees across the Group. Employees outside the board received 57% of all options granted.
These give our people the opportunity to benefit from growth in XCE’s share value, alongside their salary and commission.
Part of the award recognises service and contribution to date. The rest is earned through future performance, with individual sales targets for recruiters and service and business-performance conditions for operational roles.
For us, ownership is part of how we attract good people, keep them and reward the growth they deliver.
Full announcement in comments.
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
Building a great recruitment business is one thing.
Figuring out what happens when you want to step back is another.
For many founders, the traditional exit means giving up the brand, team and operating independence they spent years building.
XCE offers another route.
Read CEO, @btconlyscott latest article in @TheStartupsMag, link in comments.
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
XCE has two ways to grow:
Build.
Hire great recruiters and grow the existing businesses.
Buy.
Acquire profitable specialist recruitment businesses that fit the model.
We're doing both.
Because the opportunity isn't just about adding companies.
It's about building a larger, more profitable operating group while continuing to grow the Bitcoin treasury over the long term.
🟠 $XCE | AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF
