REG - Avacta Group PLC - Avacta acquires Coris Bioconcept

AvactaAnnouncement

01/06/2023 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20230601:nRSA2568Ba&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 2568B  Avacta Group PLC  01 June 2023

 

 

01 June 2023

 

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS DEEMED BY THE COMPANY TO
CONSTITUTE INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATIONS
(EU) NO. 596/2014 AS IT FORMS PART OF UK DOMESTIC LAW BY VIRTUE OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018 ('MAR'). UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS
ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE ('RIS'), THIS INSIDE
INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

 

Avacta Group plc

 

("Avacta" or the "Company" and, together with its subsidiary undertakings, the
"Group")

 

Avacta acquires Coris Bioconcept, adding a broad range of marketed
professional-use rapid tests to the Group

 

 

Acquisition consistent with Avacta Diagnostics M&A strategy and
complements earlier acquisition of Launch Diagnostics

 

Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a life sciences company developing innovative,
targeted oncology drugs and powerful diagnostics, is pleased to announce that
it has acquired Coris Bioconcept SRL ("Coris") for an upfront cash
consideration of £7.4 million (on a debt-free/cash-free basis and subject to
customary working capital adjustments), with an earnout based on future
business performance, payable in cash, of up to £3.0 million (the
"Acquisition").

 

Avacta's Diagnostics division is driving ambitious growth through an
M&A-led strategy with the aim of supporting healthcare professionals and
broadening access to high quality diagnostics. The strategy is focused on both
acquiring routes into the diagnostics market and appropriate IP-rich product
portfolios. The first acquisition, Launch Diagnostics, in October 2022
provides the group with a well-established route to market in the centralised
professional healthcare market, primarily in the UK and France.

 

Coris, based in Gembloux, Belgium and established in 1996, develops,
manufactures and markets rapid diagnostic test kits, mainly lateral flow
tests, for use by healthcare professionals. Coris is ISO 13485 certified and
markets its products through distributors in Europe, Asia, South America,
Africa and Oceania. Coris' revenue splits for the year ended 31 December 2021
were: 80% Europe; 12% America; and 8% from the Middle East, Africa and
Asia-Pacific.

 

Unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2022 ("FY22") were £4.6
million, the majority of which were non-COVID-19 related. FY21-22 gross margin
was approximately 50%, with EBITDA in FY22 of £0.35 million and a
loss-after-tax of £0.02 million. Net assets as at 31 December 2022 were £6.0
million.

 

Operationally, Coris employs 35 members of staff split across Production,
Sales, Marketing, Quality Control, Regulation and Administration. In March
2023, the business completed the construction of a new 10,700ft(2) production,
offices and warehouse facility in Gembloux.

 

Coris' product portfolio comprises diagnostic tests for respiratory,
gastro-enteric and blood-borne pathogens (bacteria, viruses and parasites) and
for the detection of antibiotic resistance markers. As part of this portfolio,
Coris markets a COVID-19 lateral flow test. Due to this, Avacta has taken the
commercial decision to halt the redevelopment of its own AffiDX(®) SARS-CoV-2
antigen lateral flow test.

 

The existing Coris management team will remain with the business and work
closely with Avacta Diagnostics businesses to drive growth and margins through
improved distribution channels and an expanded product range. Avacta will
transfer its lateral flow product development activities to Coris and support
that activity through ongoing development of Affimer(®) reagents for new
products or to enhance existing ones.

 

Dr Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Avacta Group plc, commented:

 

"The acquisition of Coris provides the Group with a broad, professional-use
rapid test product portfolio. Complementing the acquisition of Launch
Diagnostics last year, the Acquisition represents an important step in
establishing a full-spectrum in-vitro diagnostics business covering
centralised, pathology laboratory diagnostics, as well as decentralised,
point-of-care testing solutions outside the hospital setting.

 

"Antibiotic resistance is a major global challenge and we strongly believe
that the market for antimicrobial resistance ("AMR") testing is one with good
future growth prospects. We are particularly pleased, therefore, to have added
an AMR product portfolio to the Group with this acquisition.

 

"With this acquisition, our Diagnostics division has taken another important
step towards realising its mission to support healthcare professionals and
broaden access to high quality diagnostics."

 

 

-Ends-

 

 

For further information from Avacta Group plc, please contact:

 

 Avacta Group plc                                                                Tel: +44 (0) 1904 21 7070

 Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer                                         www.avacta.com (http://www.avacta.com)

 Tony Gardiner, Chief Financial Officer

 Michael Vinegrad, Group Communications Director

 Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Nomad and Broker)                               Tel: +44 (0) 207 710 7600

 Nicholas Moore / Nick Adams / Samira Essebiyea / Nick Harland / Dhiren Suares   www.stifel.com (http://www.stifel.com/)
 / William Palmer-Brown

 FTI Consulting (Financial Media and IR)                                         Tel: +44(0) 203 727 1000

 Simon Conway / Alex Shaw                                                        Avacta.LS@fticonsulting.com (mailto:Avacta.LS@fticonsulting.com)

 Zyme Communications (Trade and Regional Media)                                  Tel: +44 (0)7891 477 378

 Lily Jeffery                                                                    lily.jeffery@zymecommunications.com

                                                                               (mailto:katie.odgaard@zymecommunications.com)

 

About Avacta Group plc - www.avacta.com (http://www.avacta.com)

 

Avacta Group plc is a life sciences company working to improve people's health
and well-being through innovative oncology drugs and powerful diagnostics.
Operating through two divisions, Diagnostics and Therapeutics, the Group's
mission is to provide professionals and consumers with solutions that improve
healthcare, fitness and well-being.

 

Avacta's Therapeutics Division, a clinical stage oncology drug innovator, is
building a wholly owned pipeline of novel Affimer(®) immunotherapies and
pre|CISION™ tumour targeted chemotherapies. This approach is designed to
address the lack of a durable response to current cancer immunotherapies
experienced by most patients and reduce the severe systemic toxicities caused
by chemotherapies. There are five programmes in the pipeline as well as
several global research collaborations and licensing partnerships. Avacta's
lead programme, AVA6000, is a pre|CISION™ tumour-targeted form of the
established chemotherapy doxorubicin. AVA6000 is in Phase I clinical trials in
patients with locally advanced or metastatic selected solid tumours.

 

The Affimer(®) platform is an alternative to antibodies that has been
designed to address many of the drawbacks of antibodies which, despite their
shortcomings, currently dominate the immuno-diagnostics and
immuno-therapeutics markets.

 

The pre|CISION™ tumour targeting platform can be used to modify a
chemotherapy in order to selectively release the active drug in tumour tissue
thereby reducing the systemic exposure that causes damage to healthy tissues.
pre|CISION™ modified chemotherapies are designed to reduce the side effects
and improve the overall safety and therapeutic potential of these powerful
anti-cancer treatments.

 

Avacta's Diagnostics Division develops and supplies a broad range of in-vitro
diagnostic (IVD) solutions. The Division is growing rapidly through an M&A
strategy to deliver a global scale IVD business providing market leading
solutions for healthcare professionals and consumers to inform treatment and
monitor health and well-being. In October 2022, Avacta acquired Launch
Diagnostics which serves the hospital pathology laboratory market in the UK
and Europe. In May 2023, Avacta acquired Coris Bioconcept a Belgium based
lateral flow test developer and manufacturer adding a broad range of marketed
professional-use rapid tests into the Diagnostics Division. Avacta
Diagnostic's research and development centre in Wetherby, UK uses its
proprietary Affimer(®) platform to differentiate immunodiagnostic products to
provide marketing leading performance.

 

To register for news alerts by email go to
www.avacta.com/investor-news-email-alerts
(http://www.avacta.com/investor-news-email-alerts)

 

 

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  ACQWPUWUAUPWPUG