Wideacademy Restructuring

RNS Number : 5970F

WideCells Group PLC

30 October 2018

 

30 October 2018

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

Board Restructuring and Cost Cutting 

WideCells Group PLC, the healthcare services group focused on providing stem cell services and insurance for stem cell treatment, has undertaken further corporate restructuring and cost cutting measures to rationalise its Board and to refocus on its core operational divisions.   

As part of this restructuring, Alan Greenberg has resigned from his positions as a Director of the Board and Chief Business Development Officer and Senior Vice President of Wideacademy.

In addition, the Company has closed Wideacademy's London office and has brought the division into the Manchester head office, thereby making annualised savings of approximately £400,000 pa.

Wideacademy will continue to use its current collaborations with the education and medical sectors, and will harness Professor Peter Holland's knowledge in stem cell education and training to bolster the Group's stem cell storage and insurance sales.

The Group's CEO, João Andrade, said, "I'd like to thank Alan Greenberg for his dedication to WideCells and I wish him all the best for the future. The streamlined Board and Wideacademy is now fully focused on increasing sales at our two core divisions - CellPlan, the world's first stem cell healthcare insurance plan; and WideCells, focused on stem cell storage and, research, in order to generate value for our shareholders."

**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]
Shard Capital Partners LLP	Broker - Damon Heath & Erik Woolgar	Tel: [phone]
St Brides Partners Limited	PR - Isabel de Salis & Priit Piip	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors

WideCells Group PLC

WideCells Group PLC is building an integrated stem cell services company, focused on making stem cell treatments both accessible and affordable.  This is delivered through 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 Centre to focus on stem cell research and regenerative medicine. WideCells also has international cryogenics divisions specialising in 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.

Stem Cell Fast Facts:

·     Cord blood (which is taken from the umbilical cord) provides the most effective source of stem cells for families, because it is 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 cord blood.

·     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 collection and storage often costing no more than a few £thousands, actual treatment can cost in the £hundreds of thousands - before the development of an insurance product such as CellPlan, the treatment remained largely available only to Higher Net Worth individuals.

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

 

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