SBTX Skinbiotherapeutics Plc

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SkinBioTherapeutics plc

("SkinBioTherapeutics" or "the Company")

Investment of £1.56m from new investors

·      Company was not actively seeking further funding, already funded to Q1 2025

·    However, investment removes any uncertainty about medium term financing

·    Underpins delivery of current project pipeline and strengthens balance sheet for potential acquisition

·    This uses the Company's remaining share capital authority this year

02 August 2024 - SkinBioTherapeutics plc (AIM: SBTX), a life science company focused on skin health, has raised £1.56m (before expenses) via the investment of 14,875,749 Placing Shares at the Issue Price of 10.5 pence per share with new investors Premier Miton, the institutional investment manager, and Cynosure Capital Pty Ltd.

The Company was not actively seeking any additional funding and, as stated in the Full Year Trading update on 29 July 2024, it had sufficient cash to fund it to 2025. Premier Miton and Cynosure Capital Pty Ltd were unable to participate in the conversion of the Convertible Bond Facility due to it being already fully allocated, and so have invested via a placing, as they were keen to support the Company's upcoming projects.

The investment completes the share authorisation granted to the Company at last year's Annual General Meeting on 29 December 2023 and it is not the Company's intention to seek further authorisations before the next Annual General Meeting.  

The additional funding of £1.44m (net of expenses) will enable the Company to continue to support the roll-out of AxisBiotix-Ps, the commercialisation of the acne treatment and the potential payment of the Dermatonics deferred consideration in 2025, as well as general working capital. It will also strengthen the Company's balance sheet to support the potential acquisition, removing the need for the proposal to borrow an additional £0.5m under any acquisition financing facilities.

Application for Admission to Trading

The Placing Shares, when issued, will be fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with the Existing Ordinary Shares, including the right to receive all dividends and other distributions declared, made or paid after the date of issue.

Application has been made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission"). It is expected that Admission will take place on or before 8.00 a.m. on 7 August 2024.  The issue of the Placing Shares is conditional on Admission. The Placing has not been underwritten.

The issue price of 10.5 pence per New Ordinary Share represents a 26.3 per cent. discount to the closing middle market price of 14.25 pence per Ordinary Share on 1 August 2024, the last business day prior to the announcement of the Placing.

Total Voting Rights

Following the admission on 7 August 2024 of the 14,875,749 new ordinary shares under the Placing, the total number of issued shares and the total number of voting rights in the Company will be 226,086,285.

The above figure of 226,086,285 should be used by shareholders in the Company 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 share capital of the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

Stuart Ashman, CEO of SkinBioTherapeutics, said:

"It's extremely rare for small cap companies to be proactively approached by larger investors in this manner, and the support of Premier Miton and Cynosure Capital is a real endorsement of the huge potential of our business.

"This funding now extends our cash runway through 2025, removing any uncertainty in the short-to-medium term and underpinning our ability to deliver the exciting projects that we currently have underway. Whilst further dilution was not something we undertook lightly, we are not seeking any further authority to issue shares this year."

-Ends-

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Notes to Editors

About SkinBioTherapeutics plc

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

The Company is targeting a number of skin healthcare sectors, the most advanced of which are cosmetic skincare and food supplements to modulate the immune system by harnessing the gut-skin axis. In each area SkinBioTherapeutics plans to exemplify its technology through human studies. The Company's first product, AxisBiotix-Ps™, a food supplement to address the symptoms of mild to moderate psoriasis.

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