Holding(s) in Company

RNS Number : 2602E

Microgen PLC

16 December 2009

Microgen plc (the “Company”)

Notifiable Interests

The Company received the following notice on 15 December 2009 in compliance with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules from Aberforth Partners LLP

TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARES

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attached:

Microgen PLC

2 Reason for the notification (please tick the appropriate box or boxes):
An acquisition or disposal of voting rights		Yes
An acquisition or disposal of qualifying financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached
An acquisition or disposal of instruments with similar economic effect to qualifying financial instruments
An event changing the breakdown of voting rights
Other (please specify):

3. Full name of person(s) subject to the notification obligation:

Aberforth Partners LLP

4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3.):

Shareholder				Shares
1. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust plc				8,890,126
2. Aberforth UK Small Companies Fund				3,910,451
3. The Church Commissioners for England				1,662,500
4. Aberforth Geared Capital & Income Trust plc				1,902,400
1,2,4 = registered in the name of Nortrust Nominees Ltd A/c Aberfrth, 3 = The Church Commissioners for England (Chase GIS) Nominees Ltd

5. Date of the transaction and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached:

11/12/2009

6. Date on which issuer notified:

14/12/2009

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached:

19%

8. Notified details:
A: Voting rights attached to shares
Class/type of shares if possible using the ISIN CODE	Situation previous to the triggering transaction		Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
	Number of Shares	Number of Voting Rights	Number of shares	Number of voting rights		% of voting rights
			Direct	Direct	Indirect	Direct	Indirect
Ordinary	17,205,077	17,205,077	16,365,477	N/A	16,365,477	N/A	18.83
GB0005869531

B: Qualifying Financial Instruments
Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Type of financial instrument	Expiration date	Exercise/ Conversion Period	Number of voting rights that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised/ converted.	% of voting rights
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments
Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Type of financial instrument	Exercise price	Expiration date	Exercise/ Conversion period	Number of voting rights instrument refers to	% of voting rights
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Nominal	Delta
					N/A	N/A

Total (A+B+C)

Number of voting rights

Percentage of voting rights

16,365,477

18.83

In addition, Aberforth Partners LLP is interested in a further 2,668,800 shares although we do not have access to the voting rights of these shares, Aberforth Partners LLP is, therefore, interested in a total of 19,034,277 shares of the above company. This interest arises as a result of the discretionary investment management powers that we can exercise over the funds of our clients. Aberforth Partners LLP is not the beneficial owner of these shares

Proxy Voting:

10. Name of the proxy holder:

N/A

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold:

N/A

12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights:

N/A

13. Additional information:

N/A

14. Contact name:

Pauline Robson, Aberforth Partners LLP

15. Contact telephone number: