The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse (amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310 ("MAR"). With the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

16 October 2024

Fusion Antibodies plc

("Fusion" or the "Company")

Issue of shares to non-executive directors

Fusion Antibodies plc (AIM: FAB), specialists in pre-clinical antibody discovery, engineering and supply for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications, announces the issue of new ordinary shares of 4p each in the capital of the Company ("Ordinary Shares") to certain non-executive directors of the Company in satisfaction of part of their salary and fees for the six-month period ended 30 September 2024.

As disclosed in the Company's annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024 (as announced on 5 September 2024), the Company's non-executive directors agreed to receive part of their salary in new Ordinary Shares until the end of the current financial year ending 31 March 2025 ("FY25"), in order to assist the Company as it continues to carefully control its cash flows.

In total, 587,348 new Ordinary Shares have been issued (the "Director Shares") at a deemed issue price of 4.15p per Ordinary Share, being the closing mid-market price of an Ordinary Share on the date of grant, as follows:

¹ Excludes Ordinary Shares held by relatives of Simon Douglas.

² Held by Walsh Strategic Management Limited, a company controlled by Colin Walsh

³ Includes 600,000 Ordinary Shares already held by Walsh Strategic Management Limited, a company controlled by Colin Walsh and 1,400,000 Ordinary Shares held by Hamniv (GP) Limited, a subsidiary of Crescent Capital NI Limited ("Crescent Capital"). Colin Walsh is the Chief Executive and founder of Crescent Capital.

Admission to trading on AIM

Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange plc for the Director Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission"). It is anticipated that Admission will become effective and that dealings in the Director Shares will commence on AIM at 8.00 a.m. on or around 22 October 2024.

Total voting rights

On Admission, the Company will have 95,952,912 Ordinary Shares in issue, each with one voting right.  There are no shares held in treasury. Therefore, the Company's total number of Ordinary Shares in issue and voting rights will be 95,952,912 and this figure may be used by Shareholders from Admission as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

Enquiries: 

About Fusion Antibodies plc

Fusion is a Belfast based contract research organisation ("CRO") providing a range of antibody engineering services for the development of antibodies for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications.

The Company's ordinary shares were admitted to trading on AIM on 18 December 2017. Fusion provides a broad range of services in antibody generation, development, production, characterisation and optimisation. These services include antigen expression, antibody production, purification and sequencing, antibody humanisation using Fusion's proprietary CDRx ^TM platform and the production of antibody generating stable cell lines to provide material for use in clinical trials. Since 2012, the Company has successfully sequenced and expressed over 250 antibodies and successfully completed over 200 humanisation projects and has an international, blue-chip client base, which has included eight of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies by revenue.

The Company was established in 2001 as a spin out from Queen's University Belfast. The Company's mission is to enable pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies to develop innovative products in a timely and cost-effective manner for the benefit of the global healthcare industry. Fusion Antibodies provides a broad range of services in antibody generation, development, production, characterisation and optimisation.

Fusion Antibodies growth strategy is based on combining the latest technological advances with cutting edge science to deliver new platforms that will enable Pharma and Biotech companies get to the clinic faster, with the optimal drug candidate and ultimately speed up the drug development process. 

The global monoclonal antibody therapeutics market was valued at $186 billion in 2021 and is forecast to surpass $445 billion in 2028, an increase at a CAGR of 13.2 per cent. for the period 2022 to 2028. Approximately 150 monoclonal antibody therapies are approved and marketed globally as of June 2022 with the top four antibody drugs each having sales of more than $3 bn in 2021.  

Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them.