Premaitha Health PLC Director's dealing and share option issue (0439D)

TIDMNIPT

RNS Number : 0439D

Premaitha Health PLC

05 October 2018

Premaitha Health PLC

("Premaitha," the "Company" or the "Group")

Director's dealing and share option issue

Manchester, UK - 5(th) October 2018: Premaitha (AIM: NIPT), a leading international molecular diagnostics group, announces that it has been informed yesterday by Barry Hextall, a director of the Company, that 100,000 ordinary shares in the Company were purchased yesterday by Mr Hextall at a price of 10 pence per share. Following the acquisition, Mr Hextall's beneficial interest in the Company is 432,518 ordinary shares, representing 0.1 per cent of the Company's issued share capital as notified on 1 October 2018.

In addition, further to the appointment of Hayden Jeffreys to the Board announced 3 October 2018, Mr Jeffreys has been awarded share options over 3,000,000 ordinary shares, exercisable at 10 pence per share subject to the existing Company scheme rules.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

 
For more information, please contact: 
Premaitha Health PLC                     Tel: [phone] 
 Lyn Rees, Chief Executive Officer 
 Barry Hextall, Chief Financial Officer 
 Joanne Cross, Head of Marketing 
 [e-mail] 
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (NOMAD)     Tel: [phone] 
 Liam Murray / James Caithie 
finnCap (Broker)                         Tel: [phone] 
 Geoff Nash / Matthew Radley (Corporate 
 Finance) 
 Tim Redfern (Corporate Broking) 
Vigo Communications                      Tel: [phone] 
 Ben Simons / Fiona Henson / Antonia 
 Pollock 
 [e-mail] 
 

About Premaitha

Premaitha is an international molecular diagnostics group which uses the latest advances in DNA analysis technology to develop safer, faster and regulatory approved genetic screening tests.

The Group's current primary focus is on non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPT) for pregnant women - an emerging, multi-billion dollar global market - although the Group intends to expand its product range into other areas of clinical genetics.

Premaitha's first product, the IONA(R) test was launched in 2015 as the first CE-IVD NIPT test in Europe. It enables laboratories and healthcare practitioners to offer a complete CE-marked NIPT system in-house. The IONA(R) test is performed on a maternal blood sample - which contains traces of fetal DNA - and estimates the risk of a fetus being affected with Down's syndrome or other genetic conditions.

Unlike existing prenatal screening methods, due to its high level of accuracy, the IONA(R) test can significantly reduce the number of women subjected to unnecessary invasive follow up diagnostic procedures, such as amniocentesis, which are costly, resource intensive and carry a risk of miscarriage.

In March 2017, Premaitha acquired Yourgene Bioscience, a specialist next generation sequencing and bioinformatics company based in Taiwan, with its own NIPT screening solution that operates on the same Thermo Fisher next-generation sequencing platform as Premaitha's IONA(R) test. Yourgene brings significant benefits to the Group through expanded market access in Asia - the world's fastest growing NIPT market - as well as opportunities for cross-selling and the ability to jointly develop expanded test content both within NIPT and beyond.

Since May 2018, the Group has traded as Yourgene Health outside of Europe (but remains as Yourgene Bioscience in Taiwan), reflecting the increased scope of the business in other areas of clinical genetics further to reproductive health; but maintains the Premaitha Health brand within Europe.

Premaitha is headquartered in Manchester, England, with Yourgene offices in Taipei and Singapore. Its shares trade on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: NIPT). For further information, please visit www.premaitha.com. Follow us on twitter @PremaithaHealth.

 
 Notification of a Transaction pursuant to Article 19(1) of Regulation 
  (EU) No. 596/2014 
 1     Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person 
        closely associated 
----  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 a.    Name                                (i) Barry Hextall 
                                            (ii) Hayden Jeffreys 
                                     -------------------------------------------------------------- 
 2     Reason for notification 
      -----------------------------  -------------------------------------------------------------- 
 a.    Position/Status                     (i) Chief Financial Officer 
                                            (ii) Group Commercial Director 
      -----------------------------  -------------------------------------------------------------- 
 b.    Initial notification/          Initial notification 
        Amendment 
      -----------------------------  -------------------------------------------------------------- 
 3     Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, 
        auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor 
      --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 a.    Name                           Premaitha 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                      (i) Ordinary shares of 0.10p each 
        the financial                       (ii) Options over 3,000,000 ordinary shares 
        instrument, type                    of 0.10 pence each, exercisable at 10p 
        of instrument 
                                            ISIN: GB00BN31ZD89 
        Identification 
        Code 
      -----------------------------  -------------------------------------------------------------- 
 b.    Nature of the                       (i) Purchase of ordinary shares 
        transaction                         (ii) Issue of share options to purchase 
                                            3,000,000 ordinary shares of the Company 
      -----------------------------  -------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
 c.    Price(s) and volume(s)              Price(s)             Volume(s) 
      -----------------------------       ------------------- 
                                                (i) 10p              (i) 100,000 
                                                 (ii) 10p             (ii) 3,000,000 
                                          -------------------  ---------------------------- 
 
 d.    Aggregated information 
 
        - Aggregated Volume                 (i) 100,000 
                                             (ii) 3,000,000 
        - Price 
                                             (i) 10p 
                                             (ii) 10p 
      -----------------------------  -------------------------------------------------------------- 
 e.    Date of the transaction        4 October 2018 
      -----------------------------  -------------------------------------------------------------- 
 f.    Place of the transaction       London Stock Exchange 
      -----------------------------  -------------------------------------------------------------- 
 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact [e-mail] or visit www.rns.com.

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October 05, 2018 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)