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RNS Number : 9469B

Midatech Pharma PLC

16 January 2018

 

 

16 January 2018

 

Midatech Pharma PLC

("Midatech", "Company" or "Group")

 

Midatech and UCSF receive IND approval for DIPG treatment MTX110

 

– First treatment in patients in US expected as scheduled in Q1 2018

 

Midatech Pharma (AIM: MTPH, Nasdaq: MTP), the international specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercialising products in oncology, today announces approval of the investigational new drug (IND) application from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct a study of MTX110, an investigational nano-inclusion product, for the treatment of the fatal childhood brain cancer DIPG.

 

This disease occurs mainly in young children and has a median survival of nine months. With no treatment currently approved, the approval of this trial could be a big step towards developing a treatment for this cancer.

 

MTX110 was selected based on both independent and Midatech research that identified the active ingredient as the most potent compound of 83 tested against human DIPG tumour cells.  Midatech has swiftly brought the compound from initial formulation stage at the end of 2015 to this clinical trial in 2018.

 

The study will be conducted at leading treatment centres in UCSF in San Francisco, and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. It has also been provided on a compassionate use basis to patients and to date it has been well tolerated.  This study is expected to read out towards the end of 2019 and, if successful, expedited approval will be sought from international regulators.

 

Commenting on the approval of MTX110, Dr. Jim Philips, CEO of Midatech Pharma, said: "Midatech has worked hard to rapidly develop and bring MTX110 through to this clinical trial.  We have seen compelling data for MTX110 in pre-clinical models and we are excited by the potential for this to be evidenced in patients as well. We are looking forward to potentially demonstrating the drug's efficacy in this disease, and making a difference to the children suffering from this devastating cancer for which palliative options are currently the only choice.  MTX110 is one of our three priority programmes and we look forward to reporting back on progress in due course."

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 ("MAR").

 

– Ends –

 

For more information, please contact:

 

Midatech Pharma PLC

Jim Phillips, CEO

Tel: +44 (0)1235 888300

www.midatechpharma.com

 

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker)

Corporate Finance

Freddy Crossley / Atholl Tweedie

Corporate Broking

Tom Salvesen

Tel: +44 (0)20 7886 2500

 

Consilium Strategic Communications (Financial PR)

Mary Jane Elliott / Ivar Milligan

Tel: +44 (0)20 3709 5700

Email: [email protected]

 

Westwicke Partners (US Investor Relations)

Chris Brinzey

Tel: +1 339 970 2843

Email: [email protected] 

 

Notes for Editors

 

About Midatech Pharma PLC

Midatech is an international specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the research and development of a pipeline of medicines for oncology and other therapeutic areas, and marketing these through its established US commercial operation which includes four cancer care supportive products and two further co-promoted products.  Midatech's strategy is to internally develop oncology products, and to drive growth both organically and through strategic acquisitions.  The Company's R&D activities are focused on three innovative platform technologies to deliver drugs at the "right time, right place": gold nanoparticles ("GNPs") to enable targeted delivery; Q-Sphera polymer microspheres to enable sustained release ("SR") delivery; and Nano Inclusion ("NI") to provide local delivery of therapeutics, initially to the brain. The Group, listed on AIM: MTPH and Nasdaq: MTP, employs c.100 staff in four countries. For further company information see: www.midatechpharma.com

 

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of legislation in the United Kingdom and/or United States. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the ability of Midatech to successfully test, manufacture, produce or commercialize products for conditions using the nanoparticle and sustained release drug delivery platforms, and the ability for products in development to achieve positive clinical results, and the ability to meet or achieve timelines associated with pre-clinical studies, clinical trials or regulatory submissions. Any forward-looking statements are based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data together with management's views and assumptions regarding future events and business performance as of the time the statements are made and are subject to risks and uncertainties. We wish to caution you that there are some known and unknown factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

 

Reference should be made to those documents that Midatech shall file from time to time or announcements that may be made by Midatech in accordance with the London Stock Exchange AIM Rules for Companies ("AIM Rules"), the Disclosure and Transparency Rules ("DTRs") and the rules and regulations promulgated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which contains and identifies other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any projections or forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this announcement. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements by or concerning Midatech are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above. Except as may be required under the AIM Rules or the DTRs or by relevant law in the United Kingdom or the United States, Midatech does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements because of new information, future events or otherwise arising.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

 

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RNS Number : 8093B

e-Therapeutics plc

15 January 2018

 

e-Therapeutics

('e-Therapeutics' or the 'Company')

 

e-Therapeutics to collaborate with Intellegens and Biorelate
to enhance and extend its AI technology capabilities

Oxford, UK, 15 January 2018: e-Therapeutics, a company pioneering the use of Network-Driven Drug Discovery (NDD) to create new and better drugs, today announces agreements with Intellegens and Biorelate. Both companies have artificial intelligence (AI) tools which, after pilot studies, have been proven to enhance ETX's existing computational NDD technology. No financial details were disclosed.

 

Intellegens is a spin-out from the University of Cambridge that has developed a unique AI method for training neural networks from incomplete data. The collaboration will allow e-Therapeutics to apply Intellegens' technology to the predication and error correction of large-scale biological and chemical data. This will enable neural networks to be trained on the sparse data typical of biological and chemical problems. Application of the technology will result in the enhancement of e-Therapeutics' existing proprietary databases facilitating greater coverage of chemical space. In addition, it will be used to develop a novel computationally guided approach to medicinal chemistry.

 

Manchester-based Biorelate provides biomedical knowledge by using AI to create curated databases from the analysis of published literature. Its cutting edge technology uniquely combines natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning with human expert curation. The result is the extraction of structured biological knowledge from the wide body of expert journals. The aim of the collaboration is to directly feed this knowledge into e-Therapeutics' Network-Driven Drug Discovery engine facilitating the pursuit of novel disease mechanisms.

 

Dr Jonny Wray, Head of Discovery Informatics at e-Therapeutics said "I'm excited we're entering into partnership with these two companies. We already utilize machine learning heavily in our discovery platform to augment empirical biological and chemical data. These partnerships will enhance and extend our internal capabilities via collaborations with companies at the cutting edge of AI research and application."

 

Dr Gareth Conduit, founder of Intellegens, said: "We are very excited to be entering into this relationship with e-Therapeutics. We believe our novel deep learning technology, specifically suited to sparse data problems, will significantly improve the data and enable more opportunities to be investigated within e-Therapeutics' Network-Driven Drug Discovery approach"

 

Dr Daniel G Jamieson, founder & CEO of Biorelate, said: "The partnership with e-Therapeutics is an important milestone in our on-going mission to curate truths in biomedicine. We will be supporting e-Therapeutics' drive to better understand how complex diseases work. As biomedical knowledge continues to expand, the need to harness this and better understand what is already known is now greater than ever."

 

-Ends-

For further information, please contact:

 

e-Therapeutics plc Ray Barlow, CEO Jonny Wray, Head of Discovery Informatics	Tel: +44 (0) 1993 883 125 www.etherapeutics.co.uk
Instinctif Partners Melanie Toyne Sewell/Alex Shaw	Tel: +44 (0) 207 457 2020 Email: [email protected]

 

 

Notes to Editors

 

About e-Therapeutics plc

 

e-Therapeutics is an Oxford-based company with a unique and powerful computer-based drug discovery platform and a specialised approach to network biology.  

 

Its novel methodology and Discovery Engine allow the Company to discover new and better drugs in a more efficient and effective way.

 

For more information about the Company, please visit www.etherapeutics.co.uk

 

About Intellegens

Intellegens is a spin-out from the University of Cambridge that has developed a unique Artificial Intelligence method for training neural networks from incomplete data.

 

The technique, developed in the Department of Physics, has been applied to drug discovery and material design, but as the technique is generic it can be applied to many domains where there is big, incomplete data.

 

For more information, please visit intellegens.ai or contact [email protected].

 

About Biorelate

 

Biorelate is a venture-backed AI start-up, based in Manchester, UK, with a mission to curate truths in biomedicine.

 

By providing scientists with the necessary components to tackle biomedicine's biggest unanswered questions they aim to propel life sciences research into a new era of big data analysis.

 

For more information, please visit www.biorelate.com or contact [email protected].

 

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

 

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RNS Number : 2884B

Midatech Pharma PLC

09 January 2018

 

 

 

 

9 January 2018

Midatech Pharma PLC

("Midatech" or the "Company")

 

Midatech receives confirmation that its Q-Octreotide (MTD201) first in-human EU study is approved

 

Midatech (AIM: MTPH, Nasdaq: MTP), the international specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercialising products in oncology, today announces it has received oral confirmation from Polish regulators that its first in-human study of its sustained release product octreotide MTD201 is approved.  Formal written confirmation of the approval is expected within the next two weeks.

 

Q-Octreotide (MTD201) is Midatech's treatment for carcinoid cancer and acromegaly built on its Q-SpheraTM sustained release platform technology. The somatostatin analogue treatment for carcinoid cancer and acromegaly is being developed as the first alternative version of the commercial leading product, Sandostatin® LAR (SLAR). During its pre-clinical programme, data suggested that Q-Octreotide has an equivalent profile to the Novartis SLAR and may offer some important advantages to clinicians and patients. Midatech believes that if these data are confirmed in the upcoming study Q-Octreotide could capture up to a 5% share of the market for SLAR, which is worth $2bn annually1.

 

This potentially pivotal study comprises an initial exploratory phase which is expected to complete by mid-2018. The final confirmatory phase is expected to complete in H2 2018.

 

The decision to take Q-Octreotide to commercial scale will be taken following the interim data. Assuming positive clinical data, Midatech anticipates a launch as early as 2020.

 

Commenting on the news, Dr Jim Phillips, Chief Executive Officer of Midatech Pharma, said: "This is a major milestone for Midatech and we are pleased to start dosing in subjects soon. We have seen compelling data for MTD201 in pre-clinical models and we are excited by the potential for this to be evidenced in patients as well. This trial will provide useful data not only for MTD201, which is one of our top three priority programmes, but also for our sustained release technology platform that is being evaluated for follow-on products."

 

1 Novartis.com; Ipsen.com

 

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

 

– Ends –

 

For more information, please contact:

 

Midatech Pharma PLC

Jim Phillips, CEO

Tel: +44 (0)1235 841575

www.midatechpharma.com

 

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker)

Corporate Finance

Freddy Crossley / Atholl Tweedie

Broking

Tom Salvesen

Tel: +44 (0)20 7886 2500

 

Consilium Strategic Communications (Financial PR)

Mary Jane Elliott / Ivar Milligan / Nick Brown

Tel: +44 (0)20 3709 5700

Email: [email protected]

 

Westwicke Partners (US Investor Relations)

Chris Brinzey

Tel: +1 339 970 2843

Email: [email protected]

 

 

Notes for Editors

 

About Midatech Pharma PLC

Midatech is an international specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the research and development of a pipeline of medicines for oncology and other therapeutic areas, and marketing these through its established US commercial operation which includes four cancer care supportive products and two further co-promoted products.  Midatech's strategy is to internally develop oncology products, and to drive growth both organically and through strategic acquisitions.  The Company's R&D activities are focused on three innovative platform technologies to deliver drugs at the "right time, right place": gold nanoparticles ("GNPs") to enable targeted delivery; Q-Sphera polymer microspheres to enable sustained release ("SR") delivery; and Nano Inclusion ("NI") to provide local delivery of therapeutics, initially to the brain. The Group, listed on AIM: MTPH and Nasdaq: MTP, employs c.100 staff in four countries. For further company information see: www.midatechpharma.com

 

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of legislation in the United Kingdom and/or United States. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the ability of Midatech to successfully test, manufacture, produce or commercialize products for conditions using the nanoparticle and sustained release drug delivery platforms, and the ability for products in development to achieve positive clinical results, and the ability to meet or achieve timelines associated with pre-clinical studies, clinical trials or regulatory submissions. Any forward-looking statements are based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data together with management's views and assumptions regarding future events and business performance as of the time the statements are made and are subject to risks and uncertainties. We wish to caution you that there are some known and unknown factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

 

Reference should be made to those documents that Midatech shall file from time to time or announcements that may be made by Midatech in accordance with the London Stock Exchange AIM Rules for Companies ("AIM Rules"), the Disclosure and Transparency Rules ("DTRs") and the rules and regulations promulgated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which contains and identifies other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any projections or forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this announcement. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements by or concerning Midatech are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above. Except as may be required under the AIM Rules or the DTRs or by relevant law in the United Kingdom or the United States, Midatech does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements because of new information, future events or otherwise arising.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

 

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RNS Number : 2881B

Xeros Technology Group plc

09 January 2018

 

RNS Reach

 

9 January 2018

 

Xeros Technology Group plc

 

Xeros unveils transformational home washing machine

 

Xeros Technology Group plc (AIM: XSG, 'the Group', 'Xeros'), the developer and provider of patented polymer based technologies with multiple commercial applications, today unveils a domestic washing machine incorporating its three new innovative technologies, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This innovation has the potential to transform the $127bn global domestic laundry market, bringing environmentally sustainable cleaning into the home.

 

The technology represents a breakthrough in domestic washing, by cleaning clothes with up to 50% reductions in water, detergent and energy, whilst delivering a demonstrably superior clean.

 

The domestic machine also includes a filtering system which greatly reduces the amount of synthetic microfibers from the washing process from entering rivers and oceans. In so doing, Xeros has honoured the commitments it made to the United Nations Ocean Conference in June 2017.

 

Mark Nichols, Chief Executive of Xeros, said:

 

"We're very excited about the launch of our domestic machine at CES with its three new technologies.

 

"The global domestic laundry opportunity is enormous: 119 million machines are sold annually around the world, and the global market of both machines and detergent together has an annual retail value of $127bn.

 

"This is a key development for us. Our technologies provide a sizeable and growing group of consumers with home washing machines that are environmentally friendly, using considerably less water, detergent and power as well as providing better cleaning and fabric care."

 

The launch will showcase three new Xeros-developed technologies:

 

·      XOrb™

An evolution of the polymer technology used in Xeros' commercial laundry solution, at the heart of Xeros' home laundry system is XOrb™ technology: reusable, recyclable and safe. XOrb™ technology enables the cleaning of clothes through absorption, adsorption and mechanical action.

 

The XOrbs result in a significant reduction in water, power and chemical use and are dispensed and retrieved from the wash in the Xeros XDrum™.

 

·      XDrum™

 

The XDrum is a system which enables manufacturers to incorporate XOrb™ technology into their own-branded home washing machine designs with minimal disruption to their manufacturing process and at low cost.

 

For the first time, manufacturers will be able to offer consumers the benefits of Xeros that have previously only been available to commercial laundry operations.

 

 

·      XFiltra™

 

In response to the growing awareness of the environmental impact of harmful microparticles entering the water system from the washing of synthetic garments, Xeros has developed the XFiltra™.

 

Compatible with any home washing machine, the XFiltra includes an integrated pump, filter and dewatering device that provides a simple, low-maintenance filtration solution that cleans wash water before its release to sewage systems.

 

For a video demonstrating the technologies, please visit: https://xeroscleaning.wistia.com/medias/5b9f2zp34i 

 

Enquiries:

 

Xeros Technology Group plc Mark Nichols, Chief Executive Officer Paul Denney, Chief Financial Officer	Tel: 0114 321 6328
Instinctif Partners Adrian Duffield / Helen Tarbet / Mikael Astrand	Tel: 020 7457 2020

Notes to Editors

Xeros Technology Group plc (LN: XSG) is a platform technology company that is reinventing water intensive industrial and commercial processes by reducing water and chemistry usage with its polymer technologies. Its patented technologies have the capacity to provide material economic, operational and sustainability improvements that are unattainable with traditional processes.  The Group is currently exploiting its intellectual property in three areas: Cleaning Technologies, Tanning Technologies and Textile Technologies. Xeros has a number of agreements in place with such international organisations as BASF, Hilton and Wollsdorf Leder.

 

Water scarcity is a global imperative. Out of the 1.3 billion km3 of water on the planet, only 0.5% is accessible by people. More than 80% of this water is from ground sources that are being rapidly depleted. Immediate problems caused by this over extraction include infrastructure collapse, with further stress being caused by pollution.

 

As a result, there are major supply implications to address, not least in the global domestic laundry market, which is estimated to use 10 trillion litres of water per annum.

 

For more information, please visit: http://www.xerostech.com/

 

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

 

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RNS Number : 1664B

Xeros Technology Group plc

08 January 2018

 

 8 January 2018

 

Xeros Technology Group plc

 

Second Symphony Project development agreement signed

 

Xeros Technology Group plc (AIM: XSG, 'Xeros'), the developer and provider of polymer based technologies with multiple commercial applications, has signed a second Symphony Project development agreement with another leading manufacturer of commercial washing machines ('the OEM'). 

 

The OEM is a leader in commercial laundry machines with a significant presence in many major markets across the world. Xeros will incorporate its open source technology in the OEM's machine for the purposes of technical validation and testing. Following the testing phase the parties anticipate the commencement of commercial negotiations.

 

In April 2017, Xeros launched Symphony Project, providing open source access to its innovative polymer technology to manufacturers of commercial washing machines. At the Clean Show in Las Vegas in June 2017 Xeros demonstrated its first fully working prototype and in September 2017, Xeros announced its first Symphony agreement with a major global OEM.

 

Symphony Project will enable manufacturers to sell their own-branded products as well as receiving a share in the long-term savings that the Xeros technology delivers.

 

The development of Symphony Project is in line with Xeros' strategy to commercialise its technology with partners, who already have strong market positions.  It will enable the Group to make a financial return on its intellectual property and know-how with relatively low capital intensity.

 

A website providing a full explanation of Symphony Project is available here: www.symphonyproject.com

 

Mark Nichols, Chief Executive, said:

 

"This represents a further significant milestone for our Cleaning Technologies business. The scale and market presence of another OEM partner demonstrates the industry's increasing understanding and acceptance of our technology.

 

"With a proven technology, and growing demand for the sustainability, performance and economic benefits our technology delivers, Symphony Project will enable us to significantly accelerate the commercialisation of our technology."

 

Enquiries:

 

Xeros Technology Group plc Mark Nichols, Chief Executive Officer Paul Denney, Chief Financial Officer	Tel: 0114 321 6328
Jefferies International Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker) Simon Hardy / Will Soutar	Tel: 020 7029 8000
Berenberg (Joint Broker) Chris Bowman / Ben Wright / Amritha Murali	Tel: 020 3207 7800
Instinctif Partners Adrian Duffield / Helen Tarbet / James Gray	Tel: 020 7457 2020

Notes to Editors

Xeros Technology Group plc (LN: XSG) is a platform technology company that is reinventing water intensive industrial and commercial processes by reducing water and chemistry usage with its polymer technologies.  Its patented technologies have the capacity to provide material economic, operational and sustainability improvements that are unattainable with traditional processes.  The Group is currently exploiting its intellectual property in three areas: Cleaning Technologies, Tanning Technologies and Textile Technologies. Xeros has a number of agreements in place with such international organisations as BASF, Hilton and Wollsdorf Leder.

 

For more information, please visit – http://www.xerostech.com/

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

 

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RNS Number : 9115A

Water Intelligence PLC

04 January 2018

 

 

 

Water Intelligence plc

(the "Company")

Second National Insurance Agreement Signed

 

Water Intelligence plc announces the signing and launch of the Company's second formal national contract with one of the top 5 insurance companies in the US to provide adjusters a trusted partner to pinpoint water leaks and minimize collateral damage claims from residences and businesses.  The Company's provision of nationwide coverage through American Leak Detection (ALD), its highly regarded franchise and corporate-operated brand, allows for a nationwide execution for customers in the United States.

 

During 2017, ALD implemented its first national contract, having previously worked with insurance claims adjusters across the U.S. relying mainly on local marketing and execution from its franchisees.  In an effort to meet insurance customers' demand for a consistent nationwide business to business approach, ALD implemented a centralized channel for job assignments and billing.  During 2017 approximately 35,000 jobs originated from this central channel.  The strategy has now been enhanced further with the introduction of partnerships with product companies.  

 

Executive Chairman, Patrick DeSouza commented:  "A business to business approach will leverage our existing national footprint and reduce administrative costs for our insurance company partners.  Year one implementation went well.  In response to strong demand, we plan to do more of the same in 2018 and beyond, as the insurance market is currently seeking complete solutions for minimizing water loss through leakage and we believe we are well positioned to deliver this. We look forward to another significant increase in the amount of insurance work acquired for our corporate and franchise locations." 

 

 

Enquiries:  

Water Intelligence plc            Patrick DeSouza, Executive Chairman	Tel: +1 203 654 5426
finnCap Ltd Adrian Hargrave / Giles Rolls, corporate finance Stephen Norcross, corporate broking	Tel: +44 (0) 207 220 0500

The information communicated in this announcement is inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation 596/2014.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

 

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RNS Number : 9876A

Obtala Limited

04 January 2018

 

4 January 2018

Obtala Limited

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

(AIM: OBT)

 

First Step in Expansion of Timber Trading Division

 

Obtala Limited (AIM: OBT), the African focused agricultural and forestry company, is pleased to announce the first step in the expansion of its Timber Trading Division.

 

In June 2017, Obtala acquired WoodBois International ApS ('WoodBois'). Since its founding in 2004, WoodBois has generated over $135m in cumulative revenue trading timber primarily sourced from a network of over 100 African suppliers. WoodBois have always maintained a diversified trading portfolio, with sales by customer, geography, and species shifting year to year with the market. As a result, the business has experienced only one default (a single container sent during the financial crisis). We were delighted to have acquired an exceptional trading business and management team.

 

Since the completion of the WoodBois acquisition, Obtala has been learning how to best drive profitable growth of WoodBois' trading business. Since 2013, WoodBois' profits from timber trading had been diverted towards financing timber production in Gabon. Without reinvesting profits into the pool of available trading capital, trading revenues had remained flat in the $15-19m range, less than 0.5% of our estimate of the total market size for African timber exports. According to FAOSTAT, over $770m of sawn wood and $230m of veneer and plywood were exported from the Ivory Coast, Gabon and Cameroon alone in 2016.

 

Obtala saw an opportunity to dramatically grow WoodBois' trading revenues by providing the business with an external trade finance facility (trading capital). Trade finance allows for a higher volume of business by 'freeing up' capital otherwise tied up in the form of inventory in warehouses or containers at sea. As announced in our Q3 2017 update, we have been in discussion with a number of parties to provide such a facility. During these conversations we learned that as a result of Basel III Banking Supervision measures, traditional banks are generally no longer providing commodity trade finance at affordable rates due to the greater amount of capital they must hold against commodity exposure. According to the African Development Bank's Trade Finance in Africa survey report released in October 2017, the resulting value of the trade finance 'gap' in Africa remains significant at an estimated $91bn in 2014. This despite the estimated default rate on trade finance transactions being half the average of all bank asset classes.

 

Obtala's discussion with trade finance providers have primarily been with funds, some of whom are funded by social impact investors with the shared aim of addressing the trade finance gap for African enterprises. We have found that structured commodity trade finance is typically priced at 12-18%, with equipment finance over 20% with less than 1 year duration. As these discussions have moved forward and preparations for the implementation of an external facility have been put in place (e.g. increasing insurance coverage at our warehouse and signing a new trade credit insurance policy), as announced on 2 January 4, 2018 the Board decided to raise a separate or 'internal' pool of loan capital in order to complement the proposed external facility. There are funding gaps in any external trade finance facility (even fully insured receivables cannot be funded 100%) which our own separate pool of loan capital can cover. It also provides an opportunity for the Group to develop the internal risk management discipline and processes which can help raise additional loan capital and bring down the cost of these funds, both internal and external, over time.

 

On 2 January 2018, Obtala announced it had secured an initial $1m of loan capital at an 11.5% annual interest rate to complement the external facility we are preparing to implement. This initial amount demonstrates senior management's personal commitment to each stage of the Group's fundraising and comes with a commitment to develop market leading policies and procedures to manage it.

 

Additional trade finance is just the first step in unlocking the potential of our timber trading division. Management has also been deepening relationships with our key suppliers and trading partners, identifying the most profitable trades and markets to develop in order to maximize our return on capital. We expect 2018 to be an exciting year for our timber trading division as we begin to increase our share of the growing African export market.

 

 

 

Obtala Limited Miles Pelham – Chairman Paul Dolan – CEO Martin Collins – Deputy Chairman www.obtala.com	+44 (0)20 7099 1940
Northland Capital Partners Ltd (Nomad and Joint Broker) Tom Price David Hignell	+44 (0)20 3861 6625
Brandon Hill Capital (Joint Broker) Jonathan Evans   Beaufort Securities Limited (Joint Broker) Jon Belliss	+44 (0)20 3463 5000     +44 (0)20 7382 8300

 

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

 

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RNS Number : 1479A

N4 Pharma PLC

22 December 2017

 

22 December 2017

N4 Pharma Plc

("N4 Pharma" or the "Company")

Filing of Patent

 

N4 Pharma Plc (AIM: N4P), a specialist pharmaceutical company which reformulates existing drugs and vaccines to improve their performance, is pleased to announce the filing of its Patent Cooperation Treaty ("PCT") patent application for the oral reformulation of Aprepitant (marketed by Merck & Co under the brand name Emend).

Aprepitant is an anti-emetic drug used to suppress nausea resulting from surgery and chemotherapy with global sales of over $500m last year and whose patent for the oral products expired in 2015.

Nigel Theobald, CEO of N4 Pharma, commented: "This filing marks the next important step in the patent process for our Aprepitant application.

Sildenafil remains our lead project for generics and in line with our stated strategy, we will continue to progress our intellectual property for other possible generic reformulation opportunities that we can then develop at a later stage."

Enquiries:

N4 Pharma CEO, Nigel Theobald	Via Alma PR
Stockdale Securities Tom Griffiths	Tel: +44(0)207 601 6100
Beaufort Securities Elliot Hance	Tel: +44(0)207 382 8300
Alma PR Josh Royston Robyn Fisher	Tel: +44(0)778 090 1979 Tel: +44(0)754 070 6191

 

About N4 Pharma

N4 Pharma is a specialist pharmaceutical company which reformulates existing drugs and vaccines to improve their performance.

N4 Pharma's reformulation work falls under two divisions:

• generic, already commercialised, drugs; and

• delivery of novel and existing vaccines.

N4 Pharma has identified a number of established drugs that could be improved upon through its reformulation techniques. N4 Pharma's most advanced reformulation is for sildenafil, widely marketed as Viagra, where N4 Pharma is seeking to improve the speed at which the drug takes effect whilst also extending its duration of action.

N4 Pharma's reformulation approach should take approximately three years to obtain regulatory approval as opposed to the traditional process for new drugs of on average ten years. The cost and risk profile of this model is also significantly less than the traditional process. N4 Pharma's business model for generics is to take reformulated drugs from its portfolio through to the stage where it will license its newly reformulated drugs to pharmaceutical companies to commercialise them. N4 Pharma's revenues should be derived from up front milestone and royalty payments associated with the licence.

N4 Pharma's business model for vaccines is to undertake the required clinical work to demonstrate the capability of its delivery system as a cancer vaccine or therapeutic treatment so that it can license the technology to major players developing treatments in this area, again in return for up front milestone and royalty payments associated with the licence.

 

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

 

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RNS Number : 1832A

Integumen PLC

22 December 2017

 

Integumen plc

 

("Integumen" or "the Company")

 

 

Integumen signs Letter of Intent with men's grooming company Champion Shave

Shareholders of Champion Shave include Usain Bolt and Ronaldinho

Integumen (LSE: SKIN), the personal health care company developing and commercialising technology and products for the human integumentary system, is pleased to announce it has on 21 December 2017 signed a non-binding letter of intent ("LoI") with Champion Shave Inc ("Champion Shave"), a men's grooming company whose shareholders include Usain Bolt, the fastest man on the planet, and Ronaldinho, one of the greatest footballing legends, amongst others, to establish a joint venture under which Integumen will be able to distribute Champion Shave's range of blade shaving systems in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland (the "Agreement"). Champion Shave produces and distributes high-end razor blades at an affordable price.

 

The LoI envisages that a five-year exclusive agreement ("Agreement") will be signed by the end of January 2018 enabling Integumen to use Champion Shave's EU Trademark and branding, and to distribute the Champion Shave products both online and offline in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is expected that under the Agreement, Integumen will manage online sales including warehousing and third-party logistics (3PL) agreements and sign all offline and retail distribution agreements. Champion Shave will work alongside the Company to advertise the brand by continuing to sign on world class athletes as well as top European football clubs. The joint marketing of Champion Shave will include promotional activities such as free ticket giveaways, the opportunity to meet athletes, and autographed memorabilia which will be made available on all digital platforms.  It is expected that Integumen will have the rights to negotiate the distribution of Champion Shave products to all other European Free Trade Association territories. To date, Champion Shave has launched in nine markets globally.

The LoI envisages that on signing the Agreement, consideration in the form of ordinary shares of 1p each in the share capital of the Company ("Shares") will be due to Champion Shave. It is anticipated that Shares constituting up to 10 per cent. of the current issued share capital will be issuable, which will phased as to 4 per cent. on signing, with up to a further 6 per cent. contingent on sales performance. In addition Champion Shave is expected to receive a royalty on all sales made. The Company will make a further more detailed announcement as and when the Agreement is signed.

Declan Service, CEO of Integumen, said:

"In line with our objective, an agreement with Champion Shave will broaden Integumen's portfolio of products and enables us to accelerate our revenue generation.  Champion Shave is a brand proposition backed and owned by world class athletes like Usain Bolt and we look forward to working with them to make it one of the leading razor brands in the UK and the Republic of Ireland."

Usain Bolt, a shareholder of Champion Shave said:

"The Champion Shave team is excited to work with Integumen to get into the UK and Irish markets to give people the chance to "Feel like Champions" by having an amazing shave at an incredible price."

Integumen plc	Declan Service, CEO	+ 353 (0) 87 770 5506
SPARK Advisory Partners Limited (Nominated Adviser)	Neil Baldwin/Andrew Emmott	+44 (0) 113 370 8974
Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Ltd (Broker)   Hybridan LLP (Broker)	Ben Turner/James Pope     Claire Noyce	+44 (0) 20 3621 4120     +44 (0) 203 764 2341
Cardew Group	Shan Shan Willenbrock David Roach	+44 (0) 20 7930 0777 [email protected]

 

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RNS Number : 9941Z

Verditek PLC

21 December 2017

 

21 December 2017

 

Verditek PLC

("Verditek" or the "Company")

 

Partnership programme with Paragraf to develop the world's first Graphene based Solar Panel

 

Verditek plc (AIM:VDTK), the clean technology company, and Paragraf Ltd ("Paragraf"), the leading Cambridge based experts in graphene technology development, are delighted to announce agreement of terms for a Joint Development Programme ("JDP") targeting new solar technology. The objective is to harness the significant potential advantages of graphene to improve the output of solar power generation over state of the art cells and panels.

 

Paragraf's proprietary manufacturing process of large scale, high quality, graphene lends itself for development to integrate with Verditek solar technology. The program will investigate, develop and verify the application of graphene to solar devices, imparting the advanced electrical and mechanical properties of graphene to solar cells to realise a new generation of highly robust, ultra-light weight panels that will potentially revolutionise the photovoltaic market.

 

Paragraf's new approach to two-dimensional materials, in particular graphene, developed at the University of Cambridge, enables for the first-time highly reproducible, large scale production of these potentially game changing materials. With the capabilities to functionalise properties for the end application and readily combine with industry standard device materials, and current processing line tools, the possibilities for two-dimensional materials to significantly improve todays technologies is being enabled.

 

Verditek has today also secured terms for the delivery of the final piece of machinery to be shipped to Greenflex's new facility in San Marino, Italy, which is currently in the process of securing TUV certification. The lightweight flexible solar panels, which will be manufactured at the facility, can transform residential and commercial buildings through the embracing of solar energy. The Verditek solar module is expected to excel where function and design are equally appreciated.

                                                                                                                                                                                      

Dr Geoff Nesbitt, Verditek's Non-Executive Chairman, commented: "This is an exciting development for both our organisations. The opportunity to apply the breakthrough graphene production technique developed by Paragraf to the Verditek solar cells moves us both to the cutting edge of the solar industry."

 

Dr Simon Thomas, CEO of Paragraf, commented: "The potential of two-dimensional materials, such as graphene, to significantly improve the performance of todays technologies is well understood. However, to achieve real improvements in combination with commercial viability requires well founded, proven technology and cutting-edge R&D. The synergy of Verditek market disrupting solar cell design with Paragraf's revolutionary materials has the potential to dramatically advance todays solar energy generation capabilities, providing a potentially market defining opportunity for the partnership."

 

 

Enquiries:

 

Verditek plc

 

Geoffrey Nesbitt (Non-Executive Chairman)                                      +44 (0) 20 7129 1110

Theodore Chapman (Chief Executive Officer)                                    [email protected]

 

Stockdale Securities Limited (NOMAD and Broker)

 

Antonio Bossi                                                                                                    +44 (0) 20 7601 6100

Hanan Lee                                                                                                          

 

Yellow Jersey PR (PR & IR)

Georgia Colkin                                                                                                  +44 (0) 7825 916 715

Harriet Jackson                                                                                                 +44 (0) 7544 275 882

Henry Wilkinson                                                                                              +44 (0) 7951 402 336

 

 

About Verditek plc

AIM listed Verditek plc is a holding company with three businesses operating within the clean technology sector. The Company has a unique liquid gas absorption technology expected to revolutionize the global CO2 capture industry; two solar manufacturing production lines in San Marino each of 25MWp (total 50MWp) producing what is believed to be an innovative and un-paralleled solar PV building material; and a pioneering filtration deodorization technology, which is commercially proven and tackles a wide range of odours within air and water at a high efficiency.

 

For more information please visit or contact the following: https://www.verditek.plc.uk/

 

About Paragraf ltd.

Paragraf is a spin out from the high-profile Centre for Gallium Nitride group of Professor Sir Colin Humphreys, in the department of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge. The novel IP and know-how developed by Paragraf is starting to deliver the extraordinary capabilities of two-dimensional materials, improving current technologies and enabling long speculated, potentially life changing applications. Through Paragraf's breakthrough, high impact applications, capable of improving the quality of life globally, are being brought within reach, for example delivery of significantly improved efficiency green power generation, such as solar energy harvesting.

 

For more information please contact: [email protected], or visit paragraf.com

 

 

 

 

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

 

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