Group Reorganisation

RUA Life Sciences PLC

08 June 2023

 

 

8 June 2023

RUA Life Sciences Plc

("RUA Life Sciences", the "Company" or the "Group")

Group Reorganisation

Vascular and Structural Heart Businesses moved to stand alone subsidiaries

RUA Life Sciences plc (AIM: RUA.L), the holding company of a group of medical device businesses focused on the exploitation of Elast-Eon™, the world leading long-term implantable biostable polyurethane, is pleased to announce that the Company has completed a reorganisation of its activities with the hive down of the vascular graft business to RUA Vascular Limited (a 100% subsidiary of the Company) and the hive down of the heart valve business to RUA Structural Heart Limited (also a 100% subsidiary).

The activities of developing vascular grafts and polymeric heart valves have been undertaken by RUA Life Sciences plc, with reporting of these activities being on a divisional basis rather than as operating subsidiaries. The introduction of segmental reporting has highlighted the benefits in financial control of separating the business units out from the parent's activities. The time is now right to formalise the process which is anticipated to bring further benefits including simplifying regulatory transparency and increasing funding options for the Group.

The hive downs have included the transfer of all related tangible and intangible assets (including intellectual property) of the parent Company to each of RUA Vascular Limited and RUA Structural Heart Limited. In addition, RUA Life Sciences plc will recover the costs attributable to each of the vascular graft and heart valve projects since 2018. Total attributed cost recovery for RUA Vascular is £4.4 million and RUA Structural Heart is £3.1 million, which will remain as an intercompany debt. This will result in RUA Life Sciences plc booking a one off trading profit of some £7.5 million. This trading profit will appear in RUA Life Sciences's individual company accounts but be eliminated on consolidation of the group.

Bill Brown, Chairman of the Company, commented: "This transaction is an important step in RUA's journey of exploiting the clinical and commercial value of ElastEon. Two businesses have been incubated within RUA each of which is building upon the platform technology. By setting the businesses up as subsidiaries, it increases transparency and allows a deeper understanding of the value creation process."

For further information contact:

RUA Life Sciences

Bill Brown, Chairman                                                            Tel: [phone]  

Caroline Stretton, Group Managing Director                        Tel: [phone]

Cenkos Securities plc (Nominated Adviser and Broker) Tel: [phone]

Giles Balleny/Max Gould (Corporate Finance)

Michael Johnson (Sales)

About RUA Life Sciences

The RUA Life Sciences group was created in April 2020 when RUA Life Sciences Plc (formerly known as AorTech International Plc) acquired RUA Medical Devices Limited to create a fully formed medical device business. RUA Life Sciences is the holding company of the Group's four trading businesses, each exploiting the Group's patented polymer technology.

Our vision is to improve the lives of millions of patients by enabling medical devices with Elast-Eon^TM, the world's leading long-term implantable polyurethane. Whether it is licensing Elast-Eon^TM, manufacturing a device or component, or developing next generation medical devices, a RUA Life Sciences business is pursuing our vision.

Elast-Eon™'s biostability is comparable to silicone while exhibiting excellent mechanical, blood contacting and flex-fatigue properties. These polymers can be processed using conventional thermoplastic extrusion and moulding techniques. With over 8 million implants and 15 years of successful clinical use, RUA's polymers are proven in long-term life enabling applications.

The Group's four business units are:

RUA Contract Manufacture:	End-to-end contract developer and manufacturer of medical devices and implantable fabric specialist.
RUA Biomaterials:	Licensor of Elast-EonTM polymers to the medical device industry.
RUA Vascular:	Commercialisation of open surgical vascular grafts and patches
RUA Structural Heart:	Development of polymeric leaflet systems for heart valves.

 

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