Proposed Placing to raise up to £11 million, including Broker Option of up to £1 million and Notice of General Meeting


14th March 2018

Funds to be used to support the launch of Diurnal’s first approved product in Europe and the continued development of its product pipeline in the US and Europe

Diurnal Group plc (AIM: DNL), the specialty pharmaceutical company targeting patient needs in chronic endocrine (hormonal) diseases, announces that it has successfully secured funding commitments to raise gross proceeds of approximately £10 million through a conditional placing (the "Placing") with new and existing investors. The Company also announces a proposal to raise up to a further £1 million before expenses by granting an option to each of the Joint Brokers to place up to a further 526,315 Option Shares in total at the Placing Price from the release of this Announcement to 5.00 p.m. on 20 March 2018 (the “Broker Option”).

Highlights

  • Diurnal has conditionally raised approximately £10 million before expenses by the placing of 1,578,557 EIS/VCT Shares and 3,684,600 General Shares at a price of 190 pence per Placing Share. The Company also proposes to raise up to a further £1 million before expenses by granting the Broker Option to each of the Joint Brokers to place up to a further 526,315 Option Shares in total at the Placing Price from the date of this Announcement to 20 March 2018.

  • The net proceeds of the Placing will be used to progress the development and commercialisation of Diurnal’s products, including:

    • launching Alkindi® (hydrocortisone granules in capsules for opening) in Europe;

    • completing the development of Chronocort®(modified release hydrocortisone) in Europe;

    • completing the development of Alkindi® in the US;

    • commencing the Phase III pivotal study of Chronocort® in the US;

    • commencing Chronocort® indication expansion into Adrenal Insufficiency with Phase II clinical trial anticipated to start in 2018; and

    • progressing the early-stage pipeline into proof-of-principle studies.

  • The Placing Price represents a discount of approximately 11.2 per cent. to the mid-market closing price of the Company’s Ordinary Shares on 13 March 2018, being the last practicable date prior to the date of this Announcement.

  • IP2IPO has elected, simultaneously with the issue of the General Shares and conditional on and subject to each Admission, to convert its Convertible Loan into New Ordinary Shares.

The Placing is conditional upon, amongst other things, the passing of the Resolutions to be considered by the Company’s existing shareholders at the General Meeting to be held at 11.00 a.m. on 3 April 2018 at the offices of Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP at 1 Wood Street, London EC2V 7WS.

Martin Whitaker, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Diurnal, commented: 

“Diurnal has delivered a number of key milestones set out at the time of our initial public offering in December 2015, most importantly the European approval of Alkindi®, our first product to receive marketing authorisation. The funds raised will allow us to launch this product and to support the further development of Alkindi® and Chronocort® in the US and Europe as we begin to realise our vision of becoming a world-leading specialty pharma company in endocrinology. I would like to thank our employees for their passion, knowledge and expertise in creating and developing a unique and highly specialised pipeline of products.”

Peter Allen, Non-Executive Chairman of Diurnal, added:

“On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank both the new shareholders, as well as our existing shareholders, for their support as we continue to seek to develop and commercialise our late-stage pipeline to solve patient needs in adrenal diseases that result from a deficiency of cortisol, typically where there is either no licensed medicine or where we believe that current treatment does not adequately address patients’ needs.”

This summary should be read in conjunction with the full text of the following Announcement. The Appendix to this Announcement (which forms part of this Announcement) sets out the terms and conditions of the Placing. Persons who choose to participate in the Placing, by making an oral or written offer to acquire Placing Shares and/or Option Shares, will be deemed to have read and understood this Announcement in its entirety (including the Appendix) and to be making such offer on the terms, and subject to the conditions, set out herein, and to be providing the representations, warranties, agreements, acknowledgements and undertakings contained in the Appendix.

For further information, please visit www.diurnal.co.uk  or contact:

Diurnal Group plc +44 (0)20 3727 1000

Martin Whitaker, Chief Executive Officer 

Richard Bungay, Chief Financial Officer 

Numis Securities Ltd (Nominated Adviser) +44 (0)20 7260 1000

Nominated Adviser: Michael Meade, Paul Gillam, Freddie Barnfield 

Corporate Broking: James Black 

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Joint Broker) +44 (0) 20 7886 2500

Corporate Finance: Freddy Crossley 

Corporate Broking: Tom Salvesen 

FTI Consulting +44 (0)20 3727 1000

Simon Conway 

Victoria Foster Mitchell

Notes to Editors

About Diurnal Group plc

Founded in 2004, Diurnal is a UK-based specialty pharma company developing high quality products for the global market for the life-long treatment of chronic endocrine conditions, including Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia and Adrenal Insufficiency. Its expertise and innovative research activities focus on circadian-based endocrinology to yield novel product candidates in the rare and chronic endocrine disease arena.

For further information about Diurnal, please visit www.diurnal.co.uk View full document: Diurnal Proposed Placing

Diurnal Limited (Company Number: 05237326) is registered in England & Wales. Registered office: Cardiff Medicentre, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4UJ, UK.