Year-end Trading Update and Notice of Results
Impact of currency movements on year-end cash position
US dollar holdings effectively hedge ongoing and future dollar-denominated costs and Tris milestones
Vernalis plc (“Vernalis” or the “Company”) announces that its trading and operational activities for the financial year ended 30 June 2016 progress in line with management’s expectations. The Company’s unaudited cash position (including cash and cash equivalents and held to maturity assets), at 30 June 2016, was £84 million.
This cash position is ahead of market expectations and reflects the favourable impact of the recent strengthening of the US dollar since the UK referendum vote.
Immediately following receipt of the net proceeds (£39 million) of the Company’s placing in May 2016, the majority of this amount was converted into US dollars, to hedge the Company’s US commercial and development milestones costs, which are payable in that currency. At the year-end 73% of the Company’s cash was held in US dollars.
Notice of results
The Company expects to announce its audited financial results for the year ended 30 June 2016, late September 2016.
This announcement contains inside information.
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Enquiries:
| Vernalis plc: | +44 (0) 118 938 0015 |
| Ian Garland, Chief Executive Officer | |
| David Mackney, Chief Financial Officer | |
| Canaccord Genuity Limited (Nominated Adviser): | +44 (0) 20 7523 8000 |
| Dr Julian Feneley | |
| Henry Fitzgerald-O’Connor | |
| Rupert Winckler | |
| Emma Gabriel | |
| Shore Capital (Joint Broker) | +44 (0)20 7408 4090 |
| Bidhi Bhoma | |
| Toby Gibbs | |
| FTI Consulting: | +44 (0) 20 3727 1000 |
| Ben Atwell | |
| Simon Conway | |
| Stephanie Cuthbert |
Notes to Editors
About Vernalis
Vernalis is a revenue generating, commercial stage pharmaceutical company with significant expertise in drug development. The Group has three approved products: Tuzistra® XR targeting the US prescription cough-cold market; Moxatag®, a once-a-day formulation of the antibiotic, amoxicillin, indicated for the treatment of tonsillitis and/or pharyngitis secondary to Streptococcus pyogenes in adults and pediatric patients 12 years and older; and frovatriptan for the acute treatment of migraine. It has an exclusive licensing agreement to develop and commercialise multiple novel products focussed on the US prescription cough-cold market as well as eight programmes in its NCE development pipeline. Vernalis has also significant expertise in fragment and structure based drug discovery which it leverages to enter into collaborations with larger pharmaceutical companies. The Company’s technologies, capabilities and products have been endorsed over the last five years by collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies, including Asahi Kasei Pharma, Biogen Idec, Endo, GSK, Genentech, Lundbeck, Menarini, Novartis, Servier, Taisho, and Tris.
For further information about Vernalis, please visit www.vernalis.com.
Vernalis Forward-Looking Statement
This news release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect the Company’s current expectations regarding future events including the clinical development and regulatory clearance of the Company’s products, the Company’s ability to find partners for the development and commercialisation of its NCE pipeline, the Company’s ability to successfully commercialise its cough-cold products and Moxatag® through its own sales force, as well as the Company’s future capital raising activities. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual events could differ materially from those projected herein and depend on a number of factors including the success of the Company’s research strategies, the applicability of the discoveries made therein, the successful and timely completion of clinical studies, the uncertainties related to the regulatory process, the ability of the Company to identify and agree beneficial terms with suitable partners for the commercialisation and/or development of its products, as well as the achievement of expected synergies from such transactions, the acceptance of Tuzistra® XR, Moxatag®, frovatriptan and other products by consumers and medical professionals, the successful integration of completed mergers and acquisitions and achievement of expected synergies from such transactions, and the ability of the Company to identify and consummate suitable strategic and business combination transactions.