Director/PDMR Shareholdings and TVR

Avacta Group PLC

02 September 2024

 

2 September 2024

Avacta Group plc

("Avacta", the "Group" or the "Company")

Director/PDMR Shareholdings

and

Total Voting Rights

Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a life sciences company developing innovative, targeted oncology drugs and powerful diagnostics, announces that a total of 3,600,000 options over ordinary shares of 10p each ("Ordinary Shares") were granted to Christina Coughlin, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer (the "Options") on 30 August 2024.

The Options were granted under the Company's Long Term Incentive Plan, Avacta Group plc Executive Share Option Scheme and are time-based, vesting in three equal tranches over three years to 1 May 2027. The exercise price of the Options is 72p, being the closing mid-market share price of the Company's ordinary shares on the 29 August 2024.

Also on 30 August 2024, Tony Gardiner, CFO, exercised 500,000 options and sold the resulting ordinary shares of 10p each at an average price of 71.07 pence per share.  The exercise price of the options was 10p per ordinary share. Tony Gardiner continues to retain 2,328,324 options over Ordinary Shares. 

As previously announced Tony Gardiner stepped down from the Board on 26 June 2024 but will be remaining as CFO until 31^st October 2024 whilst the search for a new permanent CFO is undertaken.

Following the allotment of the 500,000 ordinary shares issued as a result of the exercise of options by Tony Gardiner, the Company's enlarged issued share capital is 362,159,730 ordinary shares of 10p each. This figure may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

-Ends-

For further information from Avacta Group plc, please contact:

Avacta Group plc Christina Coughlin, CEO Michael Vinegrad, Group Communications Director	Tel: [phone] www.avacta.com
Peel Hunt (Nomad and Broker) James Steel / Chris Golden / Patrick Birkholm	www.peelhunt.com
ICR Consilium Mary-Jane Elliott / Jessica Hodgson / Sukaina Virji	[e-mail]

About Avacta Group plc - www.avacta.com

Avacta Group is a UK-based life sciences company focused on improving healthcare outcomes through targeted cancer treatments and diagnostics.

Avacta Therapeutics: a clinical stage oncology biotech division harnessing proprietary therapeutic platforms to develop novel, highly targeted cancer drugs.

Avacta Diagnostics focuses on supporting healthcare professionals and broadening access to diagnostics.

Avacta has two proprietary platforms, pre|CISION™ and Affimer^®.

The pre|CISION™ platform is a highly specific substrate for fibroblast activation protein (FAP) which is upregulated in most solid tumours compared with healthy tissues. The pre|CISION™ platform harnesses this tumour specific protease to activate pre|CISION™ peptide drug conjugates and pre|CISION™ antibody/Affimer^® drug conjugates in the tumour microenvironment, reducing systemic exposure and toxicity, allowing dosing to be optimised to deliver the best outcomes for patients.

The lead pre|CISION™ programme AVA6000, a peptide drug conjugate form of doxorubicin, is in Phase 1 studies. It has shown an improvement in safety and tolerability in clinical trials to date compared with standard doxorubicin and preliminary signs of clinical activity in multiple patients.

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Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them

1.	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Name	Christina Coughlin
2.	Reason for the Notification
a)	Position/status	Chief Executive Officer
b)	Initial notification/Amendment	Initial notification
3.	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Avacta Group Plc
b)	LEI	2138009U3EG31OPMGH36
4.	Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted
a)	Description of the Financial instrument, type of instrument	Options over Ordinary Shares
	Identification code	GB00BYYW9G87
b)	Nature of the transaction	Grant of Options over Ordinary Shares
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	LTIP Exercise Price(s) Volume(s) 72.00 pence 3,600,000
d)	Aggregated information: ·      Aggregated volume ·      Price	As above
e)	Date of the transaction	30 August 2024
f)	Place of the transaction	Outside a trading venue

1.	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Name	Tony Gardiner
2.	Reason for the Notification
a)	Position/status	Chief Financial Officer
b)	Initial notification/Amendment	Initial notification
3.	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Avacta Group Plc
b)	LEI	2138009U3EG31OPMGH36
4.	Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted
a)	Description of the Financial instrument, type of instrument	Ordinary Shares
	Identification code	GB00BYYW9G87
b)	Nature of the transaction	Exercise of Options over Ordinary Shares
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	LTIP Exercise Price(s) Volume(s) 10.0 pence 500,000
d)	Aggregated information: ·      Aggregated volume ·      Price	As above
e)	Date of the transaction	30 August 2024
f)	Place of the transaction	Outside a trading venue

1.	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Name	Tony Gardiner
2.	Reason for the Notification
a)	Position/status	Chief Financial Officer
b)	Initial notification/Amendment	Initial notification
3.	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Avacta Group Plc
b)	LEI	2138009U3EG31OPMGH36
4.	Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted
a)	Description of the Financial instrument, type of instrument	Ordinary Shares
	Identification code	GB00BYYW9G87
b)	Nature of the transaction	Sale of Ordinary Shares
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) 71.07 pence 500,000
d)	Aggregated information: ·      Aggregated volume ·      Price	As above
e)	Date of the transaction	30 August 2024
f)	Place of the transaction	London Stock Exchange, AIM Market

 

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