Director Purchases and Grant of Options

RNS Number : 5250V

WideCells Group PLC

31 January 2017

 

31 January 2017

WideCells Group PLC ('WideCells Group' or 'the Company')

                                                           Director Purchases and Grant of Options

WideCells Group PLC, the healthcare services company focused on providing stem cell services and ground breaking insurance for stem cell treatment, is pleased to announce that Chairman Dr. Graham Hine, Chief Executive Officer João Andrade, Chief Financial Officer David Bridgland, Chief Operating Officer Lopes Gil and Non-Executive Director Marilyn Orcharton have purchased a combined total of 100,000 new ordinary shares in the Company (the 'Director Purchases').

Additionally, the Company announces that between December 2016 and January 2017 the Company granted options ('Options') over 380,000 ordinary shares of 0.25 pence each in the capital of the Company ('Ordinary Shares') pursuant to the Company's EMI Share Option Plan.  The Options have been granted to employees of the Company in recognition of their significant contribution towards progressing WideCell's innovative stem cell services offering.  The Options are exercisable at 14 pence per Ordinary Share, being the closing market price on 14 December 2016, with an expiry date for exercise of 14 December 2026.

Director Purchases

Details of the Director Purchases can be found in the table below:

Director	Number of Shares Purchased	Share Purchase Price	Number of shares held following the Director Purchase	Share Capital (%) following the Director Purchase
Graham Hine	20,000	13.37p	3,198,698	5.92%
João Andrade	20,000	13.25p	8,020,000	14.84%
David Bridgland	20,000	13.375p	252,552	0.47%
Lopes Gil	20,000	13.25p	8,020,000	14.84%
Marilyn Orcharton	20,000	13.445p	135,952	0.25%

The notification below, made in accordance with the requirements of the EU Market Abuse Regulation, provides further detail.

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)	Names	1.    Graham Hine 2.    João Andrade 3.    David Bridgland 4.    Lopes Gil 5.    Marilyn Orcharton
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	Directors of the Company
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial Notification
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	WideCells Group PLC
b)	LEI	n/a
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 of 0.25 pence each
b)	Identification code	GB00BD060S65
c)	Nature of the transaction	Purchase of Shares
d)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) 1.   13.37p 2.   13.25p 3.   13.375p 4.   13.25p 5.   13.445p 20,000 20,000 20,000 20,000 20,000
d)	Aggregated information  - Aggregated volume - Price	100,000 13.338p
e)	Date of the transaction	30 January 2017
f)	Place of the transaction	London Stock Exchange

Grant of Options

The 380,000 options will vest as follows (approximate):

·     126,666 immediately;

·     126,666 on 14 December 2017; and

·     126,667 on 14 December 2018, subject to continuous employment, except that they will vest automatically upon the sale of the Company.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit the Company's website www.widecellsgroup.com, follow us on Twitter @WideCells_Group or contact:

WideCells Group	CEO - João Andrade	Tel:  [phone]
Vicarage Capital Ltd	Broker - Jeremy Woodgate & Rupert Williams	Tel: [phone]
Shard Capital Partners LLP	Broker - Damon Heath & Erik Woolgar	Tel: [phone]
St Brides Partners Ltd	PR - Elisabeth Cowell & Charlotte Page	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors

WideCells Group PLC is building an integrated stem cell services company, focused on making stem cell treatments accessible and affordable. The Directors believe that the use of cord blood stem cells for transplant will drive one of the next important phases in medicine and is therefore developing market leading products in complementary, strategic areas which are designed to take advantage of substantial market opportunities in one of the fastest growing segments in the healthcare industry.  With this in mind, it has created three divisions:

·     CellPlan: the world's first stem cell healthcare insurance plan with financial cover for medical treatment, travel and accommodation expenses and concierge service to manage the treatment process

·     WideCells: the Institute of Stem Cell Technology has been established and is based in the University of Manchester Innovation Center to focus on stem cell research and regenerative medicine. WideCells also has international cryogenics divisions specialising on stem cell storage.

·     WideAcademy: developing an education and training division to promote awareness of the benefits of stem cell storage across the global general practice community.

The Group has built an experienced senior management team that has been integral to the development of its growth and business to date.

Stem Cell Fast Facts:

·     Cord blood (which is taken from the umbilical cord) provides the most effective source of stem cells for families due to it being simple, safe and painless to collect relative to other sources of stem cells such as bone marrow - WideCells will focus on promoting the collection and storage of this.

·     Since 2005, there has been a 300% increase in the number of illnesses that can be treated using stem cells

·     82 illnesses can currently be treated using stem cell procedures

·     Despite initial storage often costing no more than a few £thousand, actual treatment can cost in the £hundreds of thousands

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (MAR).

 

END

 

 

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