Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 July 2008

Matchtech Group plc ("Matchtech" or the "Group"), one of the UK's leading specialist technical recruitment companies, is pleased to announce its Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 July 2008.

Financial Highlights

*2007 results exclude sales and profits from the US business sold on 31 August 2006 as well as the non-recurring costs of the IPO.

The financial statements have been prepared under International Financial Reporting standards; see IFRs below.

Operating Highlights

• Substantial organic growth across every sector
• Strong growth throughout the year - Net fee income growth H1 up 22%, H2 up 24%
• Healthy balance of Contingency, Preferred and Master Vendor business
• Maintained good net fee income mix – contract 67%, permanent 33%
• Permanent fees up 28%, permanent placements up 31%
• Contract net fee income up 21% and number of contractors working at the year end up 11%
• Sales force headcount increased by 26%

Current Trading and Proposed Share Buybacks

• Net fee income in the first two months of the current financial year up 13%. Contractors working at the end of September were 4,595, up 5% since end July.
• Seeking shareholder approval at the forthcoming AGM for buybacks of up to 10% of share capital

Commenting on the results, George Materna, Chairman of Matchtech said:

"Our strong second half performance maintained our momentum and ensured that we built on our track record of sustained organic growth. We have delivered record turnover in the year converting into record profits across every sector of the business.

This excellent performance has strengthened our position as the UK's biggest single-site recruitment agency and we have continued to build on our already strong presence in our core industry sectors.

The clients and sectors that we serve continue to exhibit strong structural growth characteristics. We are involved in the recruitment process throughout a project's life-cycle from the initial design and conception phase, through the construction and implementation stages and finally to the delivery and maintenance of the asset or infrastructure. Many of these projects, such as the construction of the two new Aircraft Carriers for the Royal Navy which are due in service in 2014 and 2015, and the construction of the Olympic site, due in 2012, operate on long life cycles and are not materially impacted by the current financial turmoil. Moreover we have a highly diversified and expanding customer base, which provides further opportunities for growth and adds an additional element of protection to our business.

The technical markets continue to suffer from skills shortages, which, in turn, create demand for qualified candidates despite the macro economic turbulence. By providing high levels of service across the entire UK from our single site location, we are gaining new clients and winning business from our competitors.

Our clear defensive strategy of pursuing organic growth in our well established areas through working with our highly diversified client base is working and offers scope for further growth. Whilst there will be competitive and market challenges ahead, we are well positioned, with the flexibility offered by our single site, to respond quickly and effectively to any deterioration in market conditions.

Overall trading in the first two months of the current year has been good, with net fee income up 13% on the same period last year and contractor numbers up 5% since the end of July. We are determined and consistent at what we do and believe we can deliver another successful year."