Provexis PLC Grant of Share Options (7072N)

TIDMPXS

RNS Number : 7072N

Provexis PLC

24 January 2023

24 January 2023

Provexis plc

('Provexis' or the 'Company')

Grant of Share Options

Provexis, the business that develops, licenses and sells the proprietary, scientifically-proven Fruitflow(R) heart-health functional food ingredient, announces that on 23 January 2023 it awarded a total of 50,000,000 options ('Options') over ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each in the Company ('Ordinary Shares') under the Provexis 2005 share option scheme to certain directors and scientific, sales and marketing consultants to the Company.

These Options have an exercise price of 0.83 pence, being the closing mid-market price on 20 January 2023, and they are subject to performance criteria (including Ordinary Share price appreciation). The Options are exercisable, subject to vesting, between 1 April 2025 and 10 years from the date of grant.

A total of 34,000,000 Options have been awarded to the following directors:

 
 Director              No. of options     Existing         Total no.       Total Options 
                              granted       no. of        of options     as a percentage 
                                           options     over Ordinary    of the Company's 
                                                      Shares ('Total        issued share 
                                                           Options')             capital 
 Ian Ford - CEO            17,000,000   42,000,000        59,000,000               2.66% 
                      ---------------  -----------  ----------------  ------------------ 
 Dr Niamh O'Kennedy 
  - CSO                    17,000,000   38,000,000        55,000,000               2.48% 
                      ---------------  -----------  ----------------  ------------------ 
 

Following the issue of the new Options, the total number of Ordinary Shares under option which could be issued if all of the performance criteria are met is 221,500,000 Ordinary Shares, representing 10.0 per cent. of the Company's issued share capital.

Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them are set out below pursuant to the EU Market Abuse regulation.

 
      Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities 
  1    / person closely associated 
 a)   Name                        Ian Ford - CEO 
                                   Dr Niamh O'Kennedy - CSO 
     --------------------------  ----------------------------------------------------- 
      Reason for the notification 
  2 
     --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 a)   Position/status             See 1 a) above 
     --------------------------  ----------------------------------------------------- 
 b)   Initial notification        Initial notification 
       / 
       Amendment 
     --------------------------  ----------------------------------------------------- 
      Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, 
  3    auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor 
     --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 a)   Name                        PROVEXIS PLC 
     --------------------------  ----------------------------------------------------- 
 b)   LEI                         21380042E3Y3N9VZ6N48 
     --------------------------  ----------------------------------------------------- 
      Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) 
  4    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          Ordinary Shares of 0.1p each 
       financial instrument, 
       type of instrument 
                                   ISIN: GB00B0923P27 
       Identification code 
     --------------------------  ----------------------------------------------------- 
 b)   Nature of the transaction   Grant of options over ordinary shares 
     --------------------------  ----------------------------------------------------- 
 c)   Price(s) and volume(s)       Director/PDMR                Price(s)    Volume(s) 
                                    Ian Ford - CEO        0.83p per share   17,000,000 
                                                        -----------------  ----------- 
                                    Niamh O'Kennedy - 
                                     CSO                  0.83p per share   17,000,000 
                                                        -----------------  ----------- 
     --------------------------  ----------------------------------------------------- 
 d)   Aggregated information        Price(s)            Volume(s) 
       - Aggregated volume           0.83p per share    34,000,000 
       - Price                                         ----------- 
     --------------------------  ----------------------------------------------------- 
 e)   Date of the transaction     23 January 2023 
     --------------------------  ----------------------------------------------------- 
 f)   Place of the transaction    Outside a trading venue 
     --------------------------  ----------------------------------------------------- 
 

For further information please contact:

 
 Provexis plc                     Tel: [phone] 
  Dawson Buck, Chairman            [e-mail] 
  Ian Ford, CEO 
 Allenby Capital Limited          Tel: [phone] 
  Nick Naylor / Freddie Wooding 
 

Notes for editors

About Provexis plc

AIM-listed Provexis is focused on the development, licensing and sales of its proprietary, scientifically-proven Fruitflow(R) heart-health functional food ingredient.

Fruitflow is a natural, breakthrough ingredient that helps with platelet aggregation. This helps promote normal blood flow and circulation, which in turn benefits cardiovascular health. Fruitflow helps the platelets to circulate freely and smoothly throughout your blood, without sticking to one another or to the blood vessels themselves. Freely flowing blood helps reduce stress on your cardiovascular system.

Fruitflow is a highly concentrated form of bioactives which is lycopene-free and contains over 30 known anti-platelet compounds. Published clinical studies have shown that Fruitflow works to maintain healthy blood flow in a similar way to 75mg aspirin but with a milder and reversible action; Fruitflow has a similar antiplatelet effect to a single dose of aspirin - but when taken daily, it has none of aspirin's side effects.

The science behind Fruitflow has been validated by leading peer review publications and regulatory authorities. Fruitflow is the only natural antiplatelet to have a health claim approved by the European Food Safety Authority, stating that 150mg of Fruitflow 'helps maintain normal platelet aggregation, which contributes to healthy blood flow'.

Provexis entered into a long-term Alliance Agreement with DSM Nutritional Products in 2010 to commercialise Fruitflow through sales as an ingredient to brand owners in the food, beverage and dietary supplement categories. More than 100 regional consumer healthcare brands have now been launched by direct customers of DSM, and a number of further regional brands have been launched through DSM's distributor channels.

In June 2022 Provexis announced it had secured two new agreements with DSM for Fruitflow, to replace the Alliance Agreement: (i) a Transfer of Business agreement and (ii) a Premix and Market-Ready Solutions supply agreement, both to take effect from 1 January 2023.

DSM's existing and prospective pipeline customers for Fruitflow as a straight ingredient have transferred to become direct customers of Provexis WEF 1 January 2023, and Provexis took over the outsourced supply chain / production process for Fruitflow at that time. The customer transfer process from DSM to Provexis is currently ongoing, and thus far it has seen a number of positive interactions with customers for direct sales of Fruitflow by Provexis in 2023 and beyond.

Fruitflow has a number of specific health benefits which have been reflected in separate patent filings for the use of Fruitflow in:

   --    mitigating exercise-induced inflammation; 
   --    managing blood pressure; 

-- protecting against the adverse effects of air pollution on the body's cardiovascular system. Laboratory work has shown that Fruitflow can reduce the platelet activation caused by airborne particulate matter, such as that from diesel emissions, by approximately one third; and

-- conferring health benefits in modulating the gut microbiome of humans, to include a reduction in TMAO, following the completion of a successful human study which is further detailed here www.dsm.com/human-nutrition/en/talking-nutrition/press-releases/2023-01-20-new-study-reveals-dsms-fruitflow-activates-gut-heart.html .

A new partnership was agreed with DSM in June 2022 relating to the commercialisation of the gut microbiome patent, subject to certain milestones which have been agreed between the parties.

In November 2021 Provexis entered into a long term supply and distribution agreement for Fruitflow with By-Health Co., Ltd. ('By-Health'), a GBP5bn listed Chinese dietary supplement business, to support the planned launch of some Fruitflow based products in the Chinese market.

The planned launch is progressing well with potential sales volumes remaining at a significant multiple of existing Fruitflow sales.

By-Health has made a significant investment in eight separate studies in China, at its sole expense, in support of the Fruitflow based products which it plans to launch in China.

The five completed studies showed excellent results in use for Fruitflow, and they provide strong evidence for its efficacy on platelet functions. The Chinese regulatory system for functional health food ingredients such as Fruitflow is governed by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), China's top market regulator, and it is based on a defined list of 27 permitted health function claims which brand owners are permitted to use on product labels.

By-Health is working on an extensive regulatory submission to the SAMR for Fruitflow, seeking to establish a new permitted health function claim for food ingredients such as Fruitflow that can demonstrate an anti-platelet effect, addressing the aberrant blood clots which can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

If By-Health is successful in obtaining a new permitted health function claim it is currently expected that this would result in some significant orders for Fruitflow, potentially at a multiple of current total sales values.

Provexis sells a high quality dietary supplement product containing Fruitflow and Omega-3 from its website www.fruitflowplus.com on a mail order basis. The product is also available to purchase from Amazon.co.uk and from Holland & Barrett.

COVID-19

In September 2020 Fruitflow was recognised in a review article by the Frontiers in Nutrition journal www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2020.583080/full which stated that nutraceuticals such as Fruitflow may serve as:

'A safe antiplatelet prophylactic treatment for those at high risk of COVID-19 who may also be at increased risk of thrombotic complications and an alternative to pharmacological compounds that may cause greater risk of bleeding.'

Provexis was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Reading, Berkshire.

Provexis shares are traded on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PXS.

For further information, please visit www.provexis.com and www.fruitflowplus.com .

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