REG - Provexis PLC - Grant of Share Options

ProvexisAnnouncement

24/01/2023 11:15

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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® 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 granted  Existing no. of  Total no. of options over Ordinary Shares ('Total Options')  Total Options as a percentage of the Company's issued share capital

                                                   options
 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.

 

 1    Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely

    associated

 a)   Name                                                         Ian Ford - CEO

                                                                   Dr Niamh O'Kennedy - CSO
 2    Reason for the notification

 a)   Position/status                                              See 1 a) above

 b)   Initial notification /                                       Initial notification

      Amendment

 3    Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction

    platform, auctioneer or auction monitor

 a)   Name                                                         PROVEXIS PLC

 b)   LEI                                                          21380042E3Y3N9VZ6N48

 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 the financial instrument, type of instrument  Ordinary Shares of 0.1p each

      Identification code

                                                                   ISIN: GB00B0923P27

 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

 

 

d)

 

Aggregated information

- Aggregated volume

- Price

 

 

 Price(s)         Volume(s)
 0.83p per share  34,000,000

 

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:         07490 391888

 Dawson Buck, Chairman                           enquiries@provexis.com

 Ian Ford, CEO

 Allenby Capital Limited         Tel:         020 3328 5656

 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® 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
(http://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 £5bn 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
(http://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
(http://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
(http://www.provexis.com) and www.fruitflowplus.com
(http://www.fruitflowplus.com) .

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