Draw Down of Funds and Issue of Equity

RNS Number : 2699F

Provexis PLC

23 April 2014

 

23 April 2014

Provexis plc

Draw Down of Funds and Issue of Equity

Provexis plc ("Provexis" or the "Company"), the business that develops and licenses the proprietary, scientifically-proven Fruitflow® heart-health functional food ingredient, has raised net proceeds of £45,403 by drawing down on its Equity Financing Facility ("EFF") with Darwin Strategic Limited ("Darwin").

Under the terms of the EFF agreement the Company has allotted, conditional on admission to trading on AIM, 7,000,000 new ordinary shares of 0.1p each to Darwin (the "New Provexis Shares"). The New Provexis Shares have been issued at a gross 0.7p per share and rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares of 0.1p each in Provexis.

The draw down is the first undertaken by the Company since the renewal of the EFF in September 2013 and it represents a discount of 7.3 per cent to the closing mid-market price per Ordinary Share on 22 April 2014, being the latest practicable date prior to this announcement. The net proceeds raised by the draw down were linked to the floor price set by the Directors during the draw down.

Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the 7,000,000 New Provexis Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. It is expected that the admission will become effective and that trading in the New Provexis Shares will commence on 29 April 2014 ("Admission").

Following Admission, the Company's enlarged issued share capital will comprise 1,561,815,614 ordinary shares with voting rights. The Company does not hold any shares in treasury. This figure of 1,561,815,614 ordinary shares may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Dawson Buck, Chairman of Provexis plc, commented:

"We decided in March this year to raise a small amount of additional capital to strengthen the Company's balance sheet, and help fund the Company's patent and trade mark costs for Fruitflow.

The Company is responsible for filing and maintaining patents and trade marks for Fruitflow as part of the Company's Alliance Agreement with DSM. The Company is pleased to confirm that trade marks for Fruitflow have been registered in the EU, US, China and Japan, and trade marks have been applied for or registered in a further ten international territories, to support existing and forthcoming consumer brands across all major global markets.

The Company confirmed in its pre close update on 31 March 2014 that its Alliance partner for Fruitflow, DSM Nutritional Products, is continuing to make good progress marketing Fruitflow, with over 24 regional consumer brands worldwide containing our novel, patented technology having been launched, and an increasing number of further commercial projects having been initiated with prospective customers.

DSM's manufacturing and technical teams continue with positive developments in reducing Fruitflow production costs, which will help in the promotion of the powder based compound of Fruitflow which is suitable for a wide variety of tablet, gel capsule and dietary supplement products. Further, as manufacturing volume increases unit costs will decrease, enabling more positive margins and thus profit distributions to the Company.

The Board is pleased with the outcome of the draw down which has resulted in little dilution to shareholders, and it remains positive about the outlook for the business."

ends-

For further information please contact:

Provexis plc                                                     Tel:      [phone]

Dawson Buck, Chairman                                 [e-mail]

Ian Ford, Finance Director

Cenkos Securities plc                                      Tel:      [phone]

Bobbie Hilliam

 

END

 

 

MSCITMPTMBTTBFI