Malin Corporation plc

Malin reports 2024 Interim Results

·    Intrinsic equity value estimate of €6.44 per share at 30 June 2024 and €6.33 per share at 22 August 2024

·    Current cash balance of approximately €62.9 million

·    Proposed capital return to shareholders of approximately €45 million by way of tender offer, expected to take place in Q4 2024

·    Notice of EGM issued today to convene EGM and propose capital reduction in advance of tender offer

Dublin-Ireland, 27 August 2024: Malin Corporation plc (Euronext Growth Dublin:MLC) ("Malin", the "Company"), a company investing in highly innovative life sciences companies, today publishes its interim results for the six month period to 30 June 2024. 

"We executed on our business strategy during the first half of 2024, with our investee companies continuing to achieve or progress towards further important clinical, operational and transactional milestones said Fiona Dunlevy, Executive Director, commenting on the results. "Post period end, as previously announced, Malin completed the divestment of its entire stake in CG Oncology. This generated total cash proceeds of approximately €28.5 million, a 175% gain on its total capital invested. With a current cash balance of approximately €62.9 million, Malin is now progressing with the necessary preparatory steps, further details below, ahead of an intended tender offer later this year to return approximately €45 million to shareholders."

Financial Highlights

·    Estimated intrinsic equity value is calculated using our estimate of the fair value of our investee company holdings in accordance with the International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation ("IPEV") guidelines, adjusted for cash.

·    Malin's estimated intrinsic equity value per share at 30 June 2024 was €6.44, compared to the estimated intrinsic equity value per share as at 31 December 2023 of €6.56. The net decrease in the intrinsic value during the first half of 2024 is primarily attributable to the decline in the publicly traded share price of Poseida and due to a downward revision to the valuation of Malin's interest in Viamet.

·    Malin's estimated intrinsic equity value per share at 22 August 2024 was €6.33, a 2% decrease compared to 30 June 2024. This decrease was attributable primarily to a decrease in the share price of Poseida and a weakening of the US Dollar over the period.

·    Corporate cash operating expenses for the first half of 2024 were €1.3 million.

·    The Group's cash position at 30 June 2024 was €35.7 million (31 December 2023: €29.3 million) and has increased to €62.9 million at 22 August 2024, as a result of the divestment of the Group's interest in CG Oncology.

Capital Return

As part of its stated strategy, Malin remains committed to returning excess capital of the business to its shareholders having taken account of the corporate spending needs of the business. This includes the possible investment of additional capital into Malin's remaining investee companies if attractive investment opportunities arise or if it is determined the additional capital will help advance the investee company towards a value inflection point or realisation opportunity. In accordance with this strategy and following an assessment of its capital requirements, Malin intends  to return approximately €45 million to shareholders.

Malin's board has concluded that a tender offer will be used as the mechanism to return the capital to shareholders. It is currently anticipated that the tender offer will take place in Q4 2024. The terms of the tender offer have not yet been determined and the tender offer will be conditional on the approval of shareholders at a general meeting later this year. In advance of this, the Company will need to complete a process to create distributable reserves (see "Capital Reduction" below).

Capital Reduction

Under Irish law, a company may only return capital to shareholders out of its "distributable reserves", which generally means a company's accumulated realised profits less accumulated realised losses, and includes reserves created by way of a share capital reduction. In order to return capital to shareholders by way of a tender offer, Malin must first create additional distributable reserves by reducing its existing share capital (the "Share Capital Reduction"). The Share Capital Reduction requires the approval of shareholders and confirmation by the Irish High Court.

Therefore, as a prior step to launching a tender offer, Malin is asking shareholders to approve the creation of further distributable reserves in the Company by approving the reduction of the share capital of the Company by the entire amount standing to the credit of the share premium account and to treat the reserves created by such reduction as distributable. The Company has today issued a Notice of EGM to shareholders, outlining the proposed resolution to reduce the Company's share premium account, and the related EGM will be convened on 26 September 2024 at 10:30am in the Conrad Dublin Hotel. A copy of the Notice of EGM is available to view within the "Investors" section of the Company's website at www.malinplc.com.

Investee Company Updates

The investee company updates below are consistent with those previously outlined in the Company's announcement of 23 July 2024.

Poseida

Poseida has made important progress across its three clinical-stage allogeneic CAR-T programs in 2024 to date, and has indicated that it expects to provide clinical updates on each of these programs in the second half of this year, subject to coordination with Roche in respect of their partnered programs.

In May 2024, Poseida announced a research collaboration and license agreement with Astellas to develop novel convertibleCAR® programs by combining the innovative cell therapy platforms from each of the companies. Under the agreement, Poseida received $50 million upfront and may receive potential development and sales milestones payments and royalties, in addition to reimbursement for costs incurred as part of the research agreement.

Poseida is also progressing its gene therapy pipeline having presented promising preclinical data earlier this year from its two fully non-viral lead programs for the treatment of Hereditary Angioedema and Haemophilia A and showcasing the potential of Poseida's unique and proprietary gene-editing and gene-insertion toolkit.

Malin has estimated the fair value of its 12% interest in Poseida based on the closing market price of Poseida's shares on 22 August 2024.

Kymab

Malin previously announced that in connection with the sale of Kymab to Sanofi in 2021, Malin could over time receive further payments in connection with its share of milestone-related contingency payments.

In February 2024, Malin received a payment of €6.5 million relating to the first of these potential milestone-related contingency payments and the Company's intrinsic value estimate at 22 August 2024 includes a fair value estimate of €1.9 million related to the balance of the potential contingent payments.

Viamet

In April 2022, Mycovia, the successor company to Malin's investee company Viamet, announced the approval from the FDA of VIVJOA™ (otesecanazole) for the treatment of Recurrent Vulvovaginal Candidiasis ("RVVC") in females with a history of RVVC and who are not of reproductive potential. Additional studies are being performed for submission to the FDA, with the aim of gaining regulatory approval to extend the targeted patient population.

The need to complete this additional development work has curtailed or delayed commercial launches of the drug in the US and other markets thereby impacting the milestones and royalties that may have become payable to Viamet, and consequently to Malin, in the near term and we have revised our estimate of the IPEV valuation of Malin's interest in Viamet on that basis. We expect further clarity on the future regulatory, commercial and strategic pathway in the months ahead.

Xenex

The challenging macroeconomic situation facing hospitals in the US continues to be a major headwind for Xenex. On the back of the FDA DeNovo authorisation for its LightStrike™ device, granted in 2023, Xenex is exploring initiatives for driving future sales growth and we look forward to seeing the results of these initiatives in the company's 2024 sales results.

Interim Report

Malin's interim report and further information on Malin is available to view on Malin's website at  www.malinplc.com, under the "Investors" section.

ENDS

About Malin Corporation plc

Malin (Euronext Growth Dublin:MLC) is a company investing in highly innovative life sciences companies. Its purpose is to create shareholder value through the application of long-term capital and operational and strategic expertise to a diverse range of global healthcare businesses. Malin has a focus on innovative businesses underpinned by exceptional science and works with its investee companies, providing strategic and financial support to enable them to reach their value potential. Malin is headquartered and domiciled in Ireland and listed on the Euronext Growth Dublin. For more information visit www.malinplc.com  

For further information please contact:

Malin

Fiona Dunlevy, Executive Director/Company Secretary

Tel: +353 (0)1 901 5700

[email protected]

Davy Corporate Finance (Euronext Growth Listing Sponsor & Joint Broker)

Brian Garrahy / Daragh O'Reilly

Tel: +353 1 679 6363

Sodali & Co (Media enquiries)         

Eavan Gannon

Tel: +353 87 236 5973                            

[email protected]