£4.0m Government Contract and Trading Update

RC Fornax plc

18 September 2026

18th September 2026

RC FORNAX PLC

(“RCFX”, the “Group” or the “Company”)

Selection for £4.0 million Government Contract

Trading and Strategic Update

and

Directorate Change

RC Fornax (AIM:RCFX), the UK-based consultancy delivering outcome-based engineering solutions to the defence sector’s most critical platforms, provides the following business update:

Summary

Major Award

The Company is pleased to announce that it has received notification of selection to deliver a major transformation project for a new government client via the Public Sector Resourcing (PSR) framework.

The initial value of the contract is for £4.0 million and the Company expects there will be significant, further opportunities to work together in the future. The Award remains subject to completion of the client’s standard procurement process and receipt of the formal purchase order.

The Award means that the Company has now established a relationship with a new government client and also provides materially improved revenue visibility for FY27; the Company is entering the year with visibility over approximately £8.4 million of secured, anticipated and selected revenue, comprising:

•£4.0 million pursuant to the Award;

•approximately £2.4 million of revenue to be recognised in FY27 from orders secured during FY26; and

•approximately £2.0 million of anticipated revenue from planned contract renewals.

Trading Update

Revenue for the financial year ending 31 August 2026 is expected to be approximately £5.2 million (FY25: £4.1 million) with anticipated operating loss of £1.6 million (FY25: £1.1 million). This performance reflects strong growth on the prior as the new sales team has integrated and delivered, with monthly invoicing rising from approximately £180k per month to approximately £600k, representing a clear upward trajectory.

Notwithstanding this progress, some further contract delays related to the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s overall defence strategy and capital allocation have meant that performance is expected to be marginally below current market expectations.

Cash as at 31 August 2026 was £0.85 million (31 August 2025: £0.86 million). The Board does not currently anticipate the need to raise additional equity; however it is evaluating a standby debt facility to support working capital given the pace of growth. To further support the cash position of the Company, the Board has recently implemented a successful cost reduction designed to save the company £500,000 each year without impacting customer facing capabilities.

Rob Shepherd has left his role with immediate effect and we are pleased to announce the appointment of Adam Cole ACCA from Hambleywood as Interim Chief Financial Officer in a non-board role. Adam has considerable experience of working with start-ups and small companies and will work fractionally dedicating two and a half days a week to RC Fornax for the foreseeable future. The board considers this adequate for its current needs but will keep this under review as the business grows.

Strategic Update

Following the progress made since IPO, and in light of the receipt of the Award, the Board has undertaken a review of the Company’s activities, cost base and emerging growth opportunities. The Board believes there is an opportunity to continue to build upon the capabilities, customer relationships and market position established by RC Fornax while maintaining financial discipline within the Company.

Therefore, following the review, the Board is now focussed on a more linear and defined business model and the Group is structured as three divisions that are outlined in further detail below. The Board believes this strategy represents an evolution of RC Fornax rather than a departure from its established strengths. The Company has built relationships across the UK defence and engineering markets, developed access to a substantial community of specialist talent and SMEs and gained first-hand experience of the challenges associated with procuring specialist capability.

The Company intends to use those assets to build businesses capable of addressing a significantly larger proportion of customer expenditure, and the Board believes this approach provides a disciplined pathway to creating a more scalable, diversified and capital-efficient group while maintaining a clear focus on shareholder returns.

Output-based Engineering Services: The core business

The core business of the Group, the Board’s priority for the Output-based Engineering Services division is disciplined execution, profitability and cash generation.

Following significant investment over the last 18 months, particularly within its sales capability, the Board believes the core business already has the required resources to execute its current strategy and does not intend to pursue growth requiring significant additional fixed overheads.

RC Fornax will continue to service existing customers, pursue attractive opportunities within its established markets and maintain the capabilities necessary to support its customers.

The Group’s future investment priorities will, however, increasingly favour scalable and capital-efficient opportunities rather than a significant expansion of the traditional consultancy cost base.

People – Recruitment and Specialist Talent: Building a scalable specialist talent business

The Board has identified specialist recruitment and flexible talent provision as a significant adjacent opportunity and sees this as an ideal time to clearly separate this activity from that of the core business’s more project-centric solutions.

The Award received gives the Board confidence for the growth potential of this business unit that builds upon RCF’s existing relationships with customers, contractors and specialist engineering communities and provides an opportunity to address customer requirements ranging from individual specialist recruitment through to complete project teams.

Importantly, the principal capital requirement associated with this business is expected to relate to specific working capital generated by contract growth, particularly where the Company is required to fund contractor payments ahead of receipt of corresponding customer payments.

The Group intends to maintain disciplined controls around the deployment of this capital, with working capital allocated principally in support of contracted or highly visible customer demand.

SME Procure: supporting a potentially scalable platform opportunity

Alongside the core business, RC Fornax has already invested in the development of SME Procure, its technology-enabled procurement platform designed to simplify how organisations define requirements, access specialist SMEs and talent, assemble delivery teams and procure outcomes.

The Board believes SME Procure addresses a significant market opportunity and has the potential to create a substantially more scalable business model for the Group.

SME Procure is, however, an investment-stage activity currently and the Board is determined to maintain clear capital allocation discipline. The next phase of SME Procure’s development is intended to focus on commercial validation, buyer adoption, transaction volumes and the development of recurring and transaction-based revenues.

Capital allocation and future funding

The distinction between the Group’s activities is important. The Board does not currently view additional capital as being required to support an enlarged fixed-cost base within the traditional RC Fornax consultancy business. Rather, the Board is evaluating access to capital to accelerate two specific growth opportunities:

working capital to support contracted growth within theOutput-based Engineering Services and People business; and

growth investment to accelerate the commercialisation and scaling of SME Procure.

The Board believes this approach provides shareholders with greater transparency over how any new capital would be deployed and the potential returns associated with that investment.

Any future financing will therefore be considered against defined commercial objectives and with a focus on minimising dilution for existing shareholders. The Board also recognises that SME Procure represents a different business model and investment proposition from the Group’s established activities. Should the Board determine that the appropriate capital to develop SME Procure is not available within the listed Company on terms that appropriately recognise its potential value, it will consider alternative structures for that part of the business.

These could include third-party strategic investment, partnership arrangements, separate external funding or, where the Board believes it would maximise shareholder value, establishing SME Procure as a separately financed division.

The Board’s objective is straightforward: RC Fornax shareholders should benefit from the value being created through SME Procure, while the core Company activities should not be required to provide unlimited funding for its development.

The Board will therefore continue to assess the funding structure for SME Procure alongside evidence of commercial traction during its next stage of development.

Paul Reeves, Chief Executive Officer of RC Fornax, commented:

“We are delighted to have received such a significant award in our burgeoning People business. This gives us great confidence moving into the next financial year. We are also pleased with the growth of our revenue last year, albeit hampered by the continuing prevarication around the UK’s defence policy and capital allocation.

"Since IPO, we have been clear that our objective is not simply to build a larger consultancy by continually adding people and fixed cost. We want to use the position RC Fornax has created to build businesses capable of scaling beyond the traditional consultancy model and serve as an industry solutions integrator.

“Our core business remains our priority with a focus on disciplined execution and cash generation. The funding opportunities being explored would provide working capital that enables us to fulfil revenue-generating demand within People, and investment capital that allows us to determine the true potential of SME Procure.

“We are equally clear that SME Procure must earn the right to further investment. We believe the opportunity is significant, but investment will be linked to commercial milestones. If the right capital structure cannot be achieved within the Group, the Board will consider alternative ways of financing and developing the business rather than allowing it to become an open-ended call on RC Fornax’s resources.

“This gives us what we believe is the right balance: protect the core, fund profitable growth where we can see customer demand, and give SME Procure the opportunity to demonstrate what it can become while maintaining strict capital discipline.”

For more information, please visit www.rcfornax.co.uk or contact:

RC FornaxPLC Paul Reeves, CEO	+44(0)161 823 7137 info@rcfornax.co.uk
Strand Hanson Limited (NominatedAdviser) Christopher Raggett Rob Patrick Harry Marshall	+44(0) 20 7409 3494
Cavendish Capital Markets Limited (Broker) Stephen Keys / George Lawson – Corporate Finance Dale Bellis / Harriet Ward – Sales and ECM (Corporate Sales)	+44(0) 20 7220 0500
BlytheRay(FinancialPR&IR) Megan Ray Tim Blythe	+44(0) 20 7138 3204

Notes to Editors

RC Fornax PLC is an AIM quoted company providing outcome-based engineering solutions to the UK defence industry. It was founded in 2021 by RAF veterans Paul Reeves and Daniel Clark who, having also worked for a number of years as defence contractors, are passionate about improving project efficiencies and driving value for money in the sector.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside informationasstipulatedundertheMarketAbuseRegulations(EU)No.596/2014asitformspartofUK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (“UK MAR”). The person whoarrangedforthereleaseofthisannouncementonbehalfoftheCompanywasPaul Reeves, Chief Executive Officer.

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