Premaitha Health PLC Share option awards (3621U)

TIDMNIPT

RNS Number : 3621U

Premaitha Health PLC

12 July 2018

Premaitha Health plc

("Premaitha" or the "Group")

Share option awards

Manchester, UK - 12 July 2018: Premaitha Health plc (AIM: NIPT), a leading international molecular diagnostics group, announces a number of share option awards in light of recent Board changes.

The Company has today issued 19,400,000 options over Ordinary Shares of 0.1p under the Company's Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) and unapproved share option schemes to a number of Executives to reflect recent management changes.

In addition to the above, the Company has identified an administrative error which occurred in the re-issue of 9,651,407 options in April 2015, and a further 2,145,000 options issued in October 2017. These 11,796,407 options have been cancelled and reissued with identical terms.

Certain directors of the Company received options as part of the above grant and reissue.

 
                      Options granted       2014 and 2017        Total options 
                        11 July 2018     EMI Options cancelled    now granted 
                                              & reissued 
 Lyn Rees                  10,000,000                        0      10,000,000 
                     ----------------  -----------------------  -------------- 
 Keng Hsu                   3,300,000                        0       3,550,000 
                     ----------------  -----------------------  -------------- 
 Dr Stephen Little          1,700,000                2,500,000      13,755,984 
                     ----------------  -----------------------  -------------- 
 Dr Bill Chang                400,000                        0         700,000 
                     ----------------  -----------------------  -------------- 
 Barry Hextall              4,000,000                        0       5,000,000 
                     ----------------  -----------------------  -------------- 
 Other                              0                9,296,407      20,500,767 
                     ----------------  -----------------------  -------------- 
 Total                     19,400,000               11,796,407      53,506,751 
                     ----------------  -----------------------  -------------- 
 

The options are exercisable in three tranches over three financial years and are subject to certain performance conditions. The options awarded on 11 July 2018 are exercisable up to 10 July 2028, at a price of 7.75 pence per share.

Following the issue of these options, and taking into account lapsed options and those cancelled and reissued, the Company has 53,506,751 shares under option and a further 98,511,560 shares under warrant. The issued share capital of the Company comprises 386,843,523 Ordinary Shares of 0.1p each.

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: +44 (0)161 
 Lyn Rees, Chief Executive Officer                   667 1053 
 Barry Hextall, Chief Financial Officer 
 Joanne Cross, Head of Marketing 
 [e-mail] 
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (NOMAD)                Tel: [phone] 
 Liam Murray / James Caithie                         0880 
finnCap (Broker)                                    Tel: [phone] 
 Adrian Hargrave / Scott Mathieson (Corporate        0500 
 Finance) 
 Andrew Burdis / Abigail Wayne (Corporate Broking) 
Vigo Communications                                 Tel: [phone] 
 Ben Simons / Fiona Henson / Antonia Pollock         0238 
 [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.

From May 2018, the Group will trade as Yourgene Health outside of Europe (but remaining as Yourgene Bioscience in Taiwan) reflecting the increased scope of the business in other areas of clinical genetics further to reproductive health; but will maintain 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.

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.

END

DSHEASXFFFKPEFF

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 12, 2018 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)