OptiBiotix Health plc

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

Director Appointment and Director Dealing

OptiBiotix Health plc (AIM: OPTI), a life sciences business developing compounds to tackle obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes and skin care, announces the appointment of René Kamminga as a Director of the Company, with immediate effect and issue of options as part of his appointment.  René is currently a Director and Chief Executive Officer of OptiBiotix Ltd, the Company's wholly owned prebiotic business.

Director appointment

René has more than 25 years' experience in the sale of speciality ingredients and products and joined OptiBiotix Ltd in March 2021 (RNS: 23 March 2021) from the position of Vice President of Business Development and Chief Commercial Officer of the Nutraceuticals division of one of the world's largest Omega-3 and fish oil refiners KD Pharma Group. As Chief Commercial Officer, René was integral in developing and delivering on a strategy of moving the business from bulk ingredients to finished product solutions. Prior to joining KD Pharma, René was President of Kerry Groups Texturants division with full P&L responsibility for its speciality ingredient business in Europe. Prior to this he worked in business director roles for Quest and Uniqema, subsidiaries of Unilever and ICI.

Since his appointment to OpiBiotix Ltd, René has brought experience of developing a business from selling bulk ingredients to finished product and a wealth of industry contacts in both the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. He has a strong track record of rapidly growing sales and has been involved in a number of acquisitions in support of accelerating business growth. His experience of speciality food ingredients and high value final product solutions will help drive the business expansion of OptiBiotix' growing pipeline of microbiome modulation products and technologies.

René's appointment is part of a long-planned strategy to appoint experienced industry business leaders to lead each part of the business allowing the Group CEO to focus on identifying and developing new technologies and acquisition opportunities. His appointment to the main Board is recognition of the progress he has made in building OptiBiotix's prebiotic business.

Pursuant to Rule 17 and Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies, the following information is disclosed in respect of René Kamminga (aged 55): 

René Kamminga currently holds 55,844 shares in the Company, representing 0.06 per cent. of the Company's current issued share capital and options over 500,000 ordinary shares in the Company as part of the issue of options detailed below.  

There is no further information regarding René required to be disclosed under the AIM Rules.

Director dealing and issue of options

As part of the OptiBiotix Share Option Plan, options over 500,000 new ordinary shares have been granted to René Kamminga (the "Options"). The Options are exercisable within 10 years at an exercise price of 2p per share, which will be subject to a combination of performance and time-based vesting criteria.

Stephen O'Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, commented: "We are pleased to welcome René onto the Company's main Board in recognition of progress he has made in building OptiBiotix's prebiotic business as CEO of OptiBiotix Ltd.  René's experience and track record of growing sales and network of industry contacts within the ingredients and nutraceutical industries will bring sector specific expertise to the Board and support continued growth in this exciting area of healthcare."

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the UK Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company are responsible for the release of this announcement.

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Certain statements in this announcement, are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''believe'', ''could'', "should" ''envisage'', ''estimate'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''potentially'', "expect", ''will'' or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors.]