Shore Capital acts as Sole Bookrunner: Oversubscribed Placing to Raise £5.5m for Ixico Plc
IXICO plc
(“IXICO” or the “Company”)
IXICO plc (AIM: IXI), the digital technologies company serving neuroscience, is pleased to announce that it is proposing to raise £5.5 million (before commissions and expenses) through a conditional placing of 19,642,856 Placing Shares at 28 pence per new Ordinary Share. The Placing and comprises 17,767,856 VCT Placing Shares and 1,875,000 Non-VCT Placing Shares.
Highlights
· Oversubscribed placing at a price of 28 pence per new Ordinary Share (the “Placing Price”) to raise, in aggregate, gross proceeds of £5.5 million.
o Support from existing and new institutional shareholders
· Proceeds of the Placing, together with existing cash, to be primarily used to:
Build scale and market presence through:
o New neuro-imaging contracts in Phase I and Phase II, together with later stage Phase III clinical trials
§ Multiple Sclerosis will be a key therapeutic area
o Expanding operational and delivery capability
o Continued enhancements to our technology platform
o Establishing a US operational and commercial presence
Commercialise new products and services through:
o Expanding neuro-imaging services and analytics derived from
§ Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
§ Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
o Assessa companion digital product
§ Roll out following completion of pilot
o Wearable biosensors
§ First contracts awarded in September and October 2017
o Investing in commercial resources to
§ Grow and progress the current pipeline
§ Partner with global CROs
· Strong financial performance and reduced losses
o H1 revenues of £2.9m, an increase of 26% including forex at actual exchange rate and 40 per cent. underlying growth excluding forex
o H1 gross margin will be slightly ahead of 61% reported H1 2017
o Reduced EBITDA loss from £0.4m EBITDA loss reported in H1 2017
o Cash balance of £2.7m at 31 March 2018
· Establishment of Long Term Incentive Plan subject to shareholder approval
o Incentivise Executives to deliver long-term value creation for shareholders and ensure alignment with shareholder interests
o Enable IXICO to attract and retain the appropriate talent to grow the business
o Minimum share price requirement of 56p to vest
· Proposed placing is conditional, amongst other things, on shareholder approval at a General Meeting to be held on 29 May 2018
o Approximately 60.25 per cent. of shareholders have already undertaken to vote in favour of the Placing Resolutions
· The Company’s results for the six months ended 31 March 2018 will be issued on 23 May as reported in a notice of results announced today
Giulio Cerroni, CEO of IXICO, commented:
“We are delighted with the investment we have received from new blue-chip institutions and IP Group, an existing shareholder. The oversubscribed Placing has raised £5.5 million and broadened our shareholder base. We welcome shareholders new to IXICO and we also thank our existing shareholders for their continued support, which reflects confidence both in our performance and strategy for future growth. Over the past 12 months, we have completed a strategic and operational review and announced contracts with existing and new global pharmaceutical customers, demonstrating commercial momentum. This funding provides the platform to accelerate our commercial strategy to drive revenue growth over the medium-term and our strong financial performance indicates that we are making good progress on our path to profitability.”