Share option exercises and awards

RNS Number : 1017T

Yourgene Health PLC

23 March 2021

 

Yourgene Health plc

("Yourgene" or the "Group" or the "Company")

Share option exercises and awards

Manchester, UK - 23 March 2021:   Yourgene (AIM: YGEN), the international molecular diagnostics group, announces an exercise and an additional award of share options.

Exercise of options

The Company has received notification for the following exercise of options, generating in aggregate proceeds of  approximately £205,000   ("Options Exercise") to the Company:

	N umber of options exercised	Exercise price
	320,000	10.00 pence
	33,333	10.25 pence
	2,200,000	7.75 pence
Total:	2,553,333

Application will be made to the   London Stock Exchange   to admit the 2,553,333 new ordinary shares resulting from the Options Exercise to trading on AIM.  Admission of the new ordinary shares is expected to occur on or around   26 March 2021. The new ordinary shares will rank   pari passu   with the existing ordinary shares.

Award of options

The Company has today issued 1,400,000 options over Ordinary Shares of 0.1p under the Company's Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) and unapproved share option schemes to a number of individuals to reflect recent management changes.

In addition to the above, the Company has identified an administrative error which occurred in the award of 750,000 options announced on 25 September 2020, and a further 400,000 options issued and announced on 19 June 2020. These 1,150,000 options have been cancelled and reissued with identical terms.

	Options granted 22 March 2021	2020 EMI Options cancelled & reissued	Total options now granted
Dr Joanne Mason*	250,000	750,000	1,000,000
Other	1,150,000	400,000	51,359,232
Total	1,400,000	1,150,000	61,359,232

*Dr Joanne Mason is a director of the Company.

The options are exercisable in three tranches over three financial years and are subject to certain performance conditions. The options awarded on 22 March 2021 are exercisable up to 21 March 2031, at a price of 18 pence per share.

Total Voting Rights

For the purpose of the Disclosure and Transparency Rules, following the issue of shares to satisfy exercised share options detailed above the enlarged issued share capital of the Company will comprise 723,063,283 ordinary shares of 0.1p each. The Company does not hold any ordinary shares in treasury. The above figure may be used by shareholders 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 Company, under the Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Following the award of these new options, and taking into account lapsed options and those cancelled and reissued, the Company has 61,359,232 shares under option, a further 54,332,541 shares under warrant to Thermo Fisher and 10,249,624 shares in a Canadian subsidiary which are exchangeable for shares in the Company.  The Company's investor website provides details of these warrants and exchangeable shares.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the UK Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company are responsible for the release of this announcement.

Yourgene Health plc Lyn Rees, Chief Executive Officer		Tel: [phone] [e-mail]
Barry Hextall, Chief Financial Officer
Joanne Cross, Director of Marketing
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (NOMAD)		Tel: [phone]
Liam Murray / James Caithie / Ludovico Lazzaretti
N+1 Singer (Joint Corporate Broker)		Tel: [phone]
Aubrey Powell / Tom Salvesen / George Tzimas
Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Joint Corporate Broker)		Tel: [phone]
Nicholas Moore / Matthew Blawat / Ben Maddison
Walbrook PR Ltd (Media and Investor Relations)	Tel: [phone] or  [e-mail]
Paul McManus / Lianne Cawthorne		Mob: [phone] / Mob: [phone]

About Yourgene Health

Yourgene Health is an international molecular diagnostics group which develops and commercialises genetic products and services. The group works in partnership with global leaders in DNA technology to advance diagnostic science.

Yourgene primarily develops, manufactures, and commercialises simple and accurate molecular diagnostic solutions, for reproductive health, precision medicine and now infectious diseases. The Group's flagship products include non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPT) for Down's Syndrome and other genetic disorders, Cystic Fibrosis screening tests, invasive rapid aneuploidy tests, and a recent extension into the oncology space with DPYD genotyping.

The launch of Yourgene Genomic Services has enabled Yourgene to offer a global laboratory service network equipped to be a full life-cycle partner for clinical, research and pharmaceutical organisations to support partners at the preclinical, clinical, and post-market stages to develop, manufacture, obtain regulatory approval and commercialise new products and services. In addition, Yourgene Genomic Services offers an NIPT and high throughput COVID testing service.

In August 2020, Yourgene acquired Coastal Genomics, Inc., a sample preparation technology company based in Vancouver, Canada, enabling the Company to extend its offering and IP portfolio in the DNA sample preparation sector. The acquisition increased Yourgene's geographical penetration into the US and Canada, supplementing existing coverage in the UK, Europe, MEA and Asia.

Yourgene Health is headquartered in Manchester, UK with offices in Taipei, Singapore, the US and Canada, and is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market under the ticker "YGEN". For more information visit www.yourgene-health.com and follow us on twitter @Yourgene_Health.

1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Name	Dr Joanne Mason
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	Director
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Yourgene Health plc
b)	LEI	213800UUIT8BZE7QEH33
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 of 0.1p each
	Identification code	ISIN: GB00BN31ZD89
b)	Nature of the transaction	Grant of options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)
			Price(s)	Volume(s)
			7.75p 18.0p	250,000 750,000
d)	Aggregated information
	- Aggregated volume	1,000,000
	- Price	7.75p / 18.0 p
e)	Date of the transaction	22 March 2021
f)	Place of the transaction	UK

 

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