For immediate release                                                                                     22 February 2024

RWS Holdings plc

AGM Statement

RWS Holdings plc ("RWS", "the Group" or "the Company"), a unique world-leading provider of technology-enabled language, content and intellectual property services, is today holding its Annual General Meeting at which Julie Southern, Chairman, will make the following remarks:

"The Company made positive progress in delivering its medium-term strategy during FY23, particularly in respect of its client wins, traction with technology and growth initiatives, as well as with regards to its transformation programme, drive for further efficiencies and portfolio expansion. The Group continued to demonstrate considerable resilience against a backdrop of global uncertainty with increasing dividends and returning excess capital to shareholders through a share repurchase programme, as well as continuing to invest in the business, organically and through acquisitions.

Current trading and outlook

"The full year outlook remains in line with the Board's expectations. Whilst we remain mindful of the macroeconomic environment and the continuing market pressures seen in the prior year, client retention and satisfaction remain high, our growth initiatives are contributing incremental revenue and we continue to make progress with transforming the Group into a scalable platform to support growth and profitability.

"We continue to see clear opportunities for the Group to strengthen leadership in its markets, and we remain well-placed to succeed through the wide range of technology-enabled services that we offer in our fast-moving markets. In January we successfully completed the beta programme for Evolve (our groundbreaking linguistic AI solution which offers significant efficiency gains for global enterprises with substantial translation demands) and are already beginning to see some early wins with enterprise-level clients, helping them safely harness the benefits of AI.

"The Group remains cash generative and has a strong balance sheet. We are leaders in the majority of markets that we serve and are confident of the opportunities for growth, underpinned by the long-term structural drivers of demand for our products and services, and our unique combination of human expertise and technology. With our global scale and reach and diverse portfolio of solutions, clients and end markets, we are confident in the prospects of the Group."

Board appointments

As previously announced Lara Boro, Senior Independent Director, will step down as a Non-executive Director of the Company at the Annual General Meeting after 6 years on the Board.  The Company will announce the appointment of Lara's successor as Senior Independent Director in due course.  Following the appointment of Paul Abbott and Graham Cooke as independent Non-executive Directors with effect from 1 January 2024, the Board has agreed that Paul will join the Remuneration Committee and Graham will join the Audit Committee in addition to their membership of the Nomination Committee.

For further information, please visit: www.rws.com.

RWS Holdings plc                                                                                        01753 480200

Julie Southern, Chairman

Ian El-Mokadem, Chief Executive Officer

Candida Davies, Chief Financial Officer

MHP (Financial PR advisor)                                                                        rws@mhpgroup.com

Katie Hunt / Eleni Menikou / Catherine Chapman                                          020 3128 8100

                                                                                                                        07884 494112

Deutsche Numis (Nomad & Joint Broker)                                                 020 7260 1000

Stuart Skinner / Will Baunton

Berenberg (Joint Broker)                                                                             020 3207 7800

Ben Wright / Toby Flaux / Milo Bonser 

About RWS

RWS Holdings plc is a unique, world-leading provider of technology-enabled language, content and intellectual property solutions. Through content transformation and multilingual data analysis, our combination of AI-enabled technology and human expertise helps our clients to grow by ensuring they are understood anywhere, in any language.

Our purpose is unlocking global understanding. By combining cultural understanding, client understanding and technical understanding, our services and technology assist our clients to acquire and retain customers, deliver engaging user experiences, maintain compliance and gain actionable insights into their data and content.

Over the past 20 years we've been evolving our own AI solutions as well as helping clients to explore, build and use multilingual AI applications. With 45+ AI-related patents and more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, we have the experience and expertise to support clients on their AI journey.

We work with over 80% of the world's top 100 brands, more than three-quarters of Fortune's 20 'Most Admired Companies' and almost all of the top pharmaceutical companies, investment banks, law firms and patent filers. Our client base spans Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and North and South America. Our 65+ global locations across five continents service clients in the automotive, chemical, financial, legal, medical, pharmaceutical, technology and telecommunications sectors.

Founded in 1958, RWS is headquartered in the UK and publicly listed on AIM, the London Stock Exchange regulated market (RWS.L).