FDM Group (Holdings) plc preliminary announcement of financial results for the year ended 31 December 2019 published on 11 March 2020, the Board expressed the intention to recommend a final dividend of 18.5 pence per ordinary share in respect of that year which, subject to the approval of shareholders at the 2020 Annual General Meeting, would have been payable on 12 June 2020 to shareholders on the record on 22 May 2020. The cost of the proposed final dividend was £20.2 million. As stated in the Preliminary Announcement, the Group's financial position is robust, with a year-end cash balance of £37.0 million and no debt. The Board also stated that it would continue to monitor closely the escalating COVID-19 pandemic. At this early stage, agile end-to-end business model appears to be relatively resilient to the challenges which are emerging in the marketplace. Although a small number of Mounties have returned from client deployment, the vast majority of them continue to work on their client engagements, typically remotely. However, it is not possible at this stage to predict the scale of the eventual impact of COVID-19 on businesses and economies around the world. In this context, the Board considers it appropriate to maintain maximum resilience through a strong balance sheet and, as a consequence, no longer intends to recommend a final dividend for the year ended 31 December 2019.

The Company had previously announced that Robin Taylor, Chair of the Audit Committee, would retire from the Board at the close of the AGM on 29 April 2020. Notwithstanding that AGM has now been postponed, Robin will step down in any event on 29 April 2020 and Alan Kinnear will be appointed Chair of the Audit Committee on that date.