REG - SkinBioTherapeutics - Superdrug agreement, Placing & Retail Offer

SkinbiotherapeuticsAnnouncement

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RNS Number : 9566M  SkinBioTherapeutics PLC  16 June 2025

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SkinBioTherapeutics plc

("SkinBioTherapeutics" or the "Group" or the "Company")

SkinBioTherapeutics signs exclusive commercial agreement

with Superdrug for AxisBiotix™ products in the UK

Placing and Subscription to raise £4.1m to support Superdrug agreement;

Proposed Retail Offer to existing shareholders of up to £0.62m

AxisBiotix™-Ps Receives US National Psoriasis Foundation

Seal of Recognition

 

16 June 2025 - SkinBioTherapeutics plc (AIM: SBTX), a life science group
focused on skin health, announces that it has signed an exclusive UK
commercial agreement with Superdrug Stores plc ("Superdrug") (the "Commercial
Agreement"), one of the UK's leading beauty and health retailers, related to
its AxisBiotix™ food supplements to alleviate the symptoms of inflammatory
skin conditions.

In order to provide additional working capital to facilitate and support the
Commercial Agreement and future formulation and packaging requirements, the
Company has today raised £4.1m (gross) via a placing (the "Placing") and a
subscription (the "Subscription") of 24,117,645 new ordinary shares of 1p (the
"New Ordinary Shares") at 17 pence each (the "Issue Price"). The Issue Price
represents no discount to the Company's closing bid-price on 13 June 2025
(being the last practicable day prior to the publication of this
Announcement). The Placing is being made available to certain institutional
investors, including Premier Miton. Under the terms of the Subscription David
Brierwood (who currently holds 5.51% of the Company's ordinary shares) has
subscribed for a total of £600,000 which equates to 3,529,411 New Ordinary
Shares as part of the fundraising, at the Issue Price and at the same time as
the Placing.

In addition, the Company is proposing a retail offer to all existing
shareholders for up to 3,617,647 New Ordinary Shares at the Issue Price to
raise up to an additional £615,000 (before expenses). Further details are set
out below.

The Company is also pleased to announce that it has been granted Seal of
Recognition by the US National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) and inclusion in its
approved product directory - a most important industry validation for
commercial traction in the USA.

 

Superdrug agreement

Superdrug is one of the UK's leading beauty and health retailers. The
Commercial Agreement is on an exclusive basis for the sale of both
AxisBiotix-Ps and AxisBiotix-Ac in Superdrug's UK stores for two years. This
will be the first time AxisBiotix for acne has been made commercially
available. SkinBioTherapeutics retains the worldwide rights to direct online
retail sales of both products via the AxisBiotix website and Amazon.

The initial roll-out of both AxisBiotix products will occur in early September
2025 in Superdrug stores, which typically have higher sales of medicated
skincare relative to the rest of its group. A phased roll-out to the rest of
Superdrug's UK store portfolio is scheduled to commence in Spring 2026.

Given the extremely short lead time for manufacture and delivery of both
products to meet the stringent launch deadline, they will initially be sold in
powder form. However, the longer term intention is to deliver a capsule and/or
gum format. SkinBioTherapeutics will be working on these new formulations and
looks to acquire additional capital equipment for encapsulation and
blister-packaging to keep this work in-house.

Stuart Ashman, CEO of SkinBioTherapeutics said:

"The commercial agreement with Superdrug is a major milestone as we sign our
first national high street agreement. We have been in discussions for a
considerable period of time to determine the right way to promote, package and
roll-out both of the AxisBiotix products. Importantly, we retain the worldwide
rights to sell the products ourselves directly online and via Amazon, and
remain in control over how our products are promoted. We have a very tight
timeframe to produce and deliver the stock required for launch and to ensure
that we have sufficient levels going forward to avoid a back-order position."

 

US National Psoriasis Foundation ("NPF")

SkinBioTherapeutics has also been in active dialogue for some time with the
NPF, the leading non-profit organisation representing individuals with
psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis in the USA. The NPF has granted
AxisBiotix-Ps Seal of Recognition and inclusion in its approved product
directory Here
(https://www.psoriasis.org/seal-of-recognition/axisbiotix/axisbiotix-ps) .

According to the NPF, the Seal of Recognition "…highlights and recognizes
products created or intended to be non-irritating and safe for those living
with psoriatic disease. The directory specifically recognizes products that
are safe as part of a daily skincare routine for sensitive skin or suitable
for those with joint mobility limitations."

This official recognition is important industry validation of AxisBiotix™-Ps
and opens up potential new markets for the product.

 

Placing and WRAP Retail Offer

In order to support the initial launch of AxisBiotix™ products with
Superdrug this Autumn and to acquire the encapsulation and packaging equipment
to support the development of a capsule format, the Board decided to undertake
the Placing, thus allowing existing funds to continue to be deployed as
envisaged in the other areas of the Group. The proceeds of the Placing will
also be used for marketing purposes and to further raise brand awareness of
AxisBiotix™.

In addition to the Placing and Subscription, the Company announces that there
will be a separate retail offer to existing shareholders via the Winterflood
Retail Access Platform ("WRAP") to raise up to £615,000 (before expenses) at
the Issue Price (the "WRAP Retail Offer", and together with the Placing and
the Subscription, the "Fundraising"). This represents 15% of the Placing and
the Subscription and provides existing shareholders in the Company an
opportunity to participate in the Fundraising.

Those investors who subscribe for new Ordinary Shares pursuant to the WRAP
Retail Offer (the "WRAP Retail Offer Shares") will do so pursuant to the terms
and conditions of the WRAP Retail Offer contained in a separate announcement
to be released by the Company. The WRAP Retail Offer is subject to a minimum
subscription of £100 per investor and will be open to existing shareholders
of the Company within the United Kingdom. A separate announcement will be made
by the Company regarding the WRAP Retail Offer and its terms in due course
("WRAP Retail Offer Announcement").

Those investors who subscribe for WRAP Retail Offer Shares pursuant to the
WRAP Retail Offer will do so pursuant to the terms and conditions contained in
the WRAP Retail Offer Announcement. The WRAP Retail Offer will be conditional
on completion of the Placing but the Placing is not conditional upon
completion of the WRAP Retail Offer. For the avoidance of doubt, the WRAP
Retail Offer does not form part of the Placing.

The Placing, Subscription and the WRAP Retail Offer are being conducted using
the existing authorities to issue and allot new ordinary shares for cash and
disapply pre-emption rights, which the Directors were granted at the annual
general meeting of the Company held on 27 December 2024.

It is expected that admission of the New Ordinary Shares to be issued pursuant
to the Placing and Subscription to trading on AIM ("Admission") will occur and
that dealings will commence at 8.00 a.m. on 24 June 2025. These New Ordinary
Shares will rank pari passu with the Company's existing ordinary shares. The
New Ordinary Shares are equivalent to approximately 9.34 per cent. of the
Company's enlarged issued share capital (ignoring any New Ordinary Shares to
be issued pursuant to the WRAP Retail Offer).

In due course, an application will be made for any New Ordinary Shares issued
pursuant to the WRAP Retail Offer to be admitted to trading on AIM.

 

Total Voting Rights

Following Admission, the Company will have 258,192,272 Ordinary Shares in
issue and no ordinary Shares in treasury. Therefore, the total voting rights
in the Company will be 258,192,272.

This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation
by which they may determine if they are required to notify their interest in,
or any change to their interest in, the Company under the Disclosure Guidance
and Transparency Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority.

A further announcement will be made on Total Voting Rights following the close
of the Retail Offer.

 

Stuart Ashman, CEO of SkinBioTherapeutics concluded:

"Our intention was not to return to the market since we had sufficient cash
for working capital into next year. However, we saw the value building
opportunity of signing this Superdrug agreement earlier than expected, and to
create a capsule and/or gum version of AxisBiotix™ ourselves; these factors
were too important to jeopardise. The Placing raises sufficient working
capital to cover the launch stock and meet the very tight deadline for
delivery as well as the development of the next generation of capsules and
gum. However, we were also aware that our current shareholders might wish to
participate too, hence the Open Offer.

He added: "Overall, the Superdrug AxisBiotix™ commercial agreement coupled
with the recognition from the US's National Psoriasis Foundation raises the
profile of this pillar of products significantly on both the national high
street and the international stage with other potential partners. We see both
events as important factors in building shareholder value further, and we are
most grateful for the investor support we have received to date."

"In keeping with our standard practice we will be issuing an unaudited
year-end trading update once we have closed off the June and consolidated
year-end numbers."

 

Investor presentation

SkinBioTherapeutics will hold a presentation for shareholders once the Open
Offer has closed, via the Investor Meet Company platform. The presentation
will be open to all existing and potential SkinBioTherapeutics shareholders.

Once the timing of the presentation has been finalised, investors who already
follow SkinBioTherapeutics on the Investor Meet Company platform will
automatically be invited. Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for
free Here (https://www.investormeetcompany.com/) .

 

-Ends-

For more information please contact:

 

 SkinBioTherapeutics plc                                  +44 (0) 191 495 7325

 Stuart J. Ashman, CEO

Simon Hewitson, COO

 Singer Capital Markets (Nominated Adviser & Broker)      +44 (0) 020 7496 3000

 Philip Davies

 
 Sam Butcher

 Patrick Weaver

 Vigo Consulting (financial press)                        +44 (0) 20 7390 0230

 Rozi Morris                                              SkinBio@vigoconsulting.com

 

Notes to Editors

About SkinBioTherapeutics plc

SkinBioTherapeutics is a life science company focused on skin health. The
Group's proprietary platform technology, SkinBiotix®, is based upon
discoveries made by the translational dermatology team at the University of
Manchester.

The Group's foundation business is targeting the skin healthcare market via
five pillars, the most advanced of which are cosmetic skincare (SkinBiotix)
and food supplements that harness the gut-skin axis (AxisBiotix). The cosmetic
pillar has a partnership with Croda plc and the Group's first in-house
product, AxisBiotix-Ps™, a food supplement to alleviate the symptoms of
inflammatory skin conditions, is sold directly and via Amazon.

The Group is also acting as a consolidator and is making acquisitions in
complementary areas such as skin care and cosmetic applications, that also
bring new distribution and geographical platforms, and manufacturing
capabilities through which it can funnel its in-house pillar products.

The Company listed on AIM in April 2017 and is based in Newcastle, UK. For
more information, visit: www.skinbiotherapeutics.com
(http://www.skinbiotherapeutics.com) .

 

About Superdrug

Superdrug is one of the UK's leading health and beauty retailers operating in
the UK and Republic of Ireland, offering a wide range of products and
services, including in-store pharmacies and online doctor services. Superdrug
is owned by AS Watson Group, a global health and beauty retailer. For more
information, please visit the website: www.superdrug.com
(http://www.superdrug.com/) .

 

About the National Psoriasis Foundation

The NPF serves more than 3 million people annually through patient and
professional health education and advocacy initiatives, and has funded more
than $10 million in psoriatic disease research grants and fellowships. The
mission of NPF is to drive efforts to cure psoriatic disease and improve the
lives of more than 8 million individuals in the United States affected by this
chronic immune-mediated disease. Learn more at www.psoriasis.org
(http://www.psoriasis.org) .

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