Angle Regulatory News (AGL)

14 Feb 2007 14:21

Angle PLC14 February 2007 For Immediate Release 14 February 2007 ANGLE plc Trade sale of Acolyte Biomedica ANGLE plc ('ANGLE') is pleased to announce that its venture company AcolyteBiomedica Ltd ('Acolyte') has been sold to 3M Corporation ('3M'). Under the terms of the agreement, 3M will make an initial cash payment to thevendors of Acolyte on completion plus a further cash payment based on the levelof 3M sales of Acolyte-derived products in the calendar year 2009. ANGLE's shareof the proceeds will be up to £5.6 million consisting of initial cash proceedsof £0.9 million and a second cash payment of up to £4.7 million. The cashproceeds will be applied towards the expansion of ANGLE's business through thedevelopment of new ventures using ANGLE's Progeny(R) process. In the year ended31 December 2006, Acolyte's sales were £0.1 million on which it made a pre-taxloss of £1.6 million. As at 31 December 2006, Acolyte had net assets of £0.3million. ANGLE founded Acolyte in conjunction with the Defence Science and TechnologyLaboratories (Dstl), an agency of the Ministry of Defence at Porton Down,Wiltshire, on whose technology it is based, in 2000. The current shareholderbase includes Porton Capital, Ploughshare Innovations (Dstl's TechnologyTransfer arm) and Partnerships UK and the company is chaired by John McKinley. ANGLE has been actively involved in the management of the business ever since.Andrew Newland chaired the business for the first two years of its existence andan ANGLE executive has been on the board ever since its establishment. Duringthis time, Acolyte has completed three venture capital rounds, undertaken keyproduct development and launched its first product, the BacLite(R) Rapid MRSAtest which allows hospitals to obtain results within five hours of screeningpatients and hospital workers for the presence of MRSA. This compares with threedays to obtain results from conventional screening. Detection of the MRSA super-bug is the first application of Acolyte's BacLite(R)technology, which can also be applied to the diagnosis of a wide range of otherserious infections. Andrew Newland, Chief Executive of ANGLE plc said:"The development of Acolyte Biomedica from start-up through to trade sale to amajor international company is a major milestone for ANGLE and demonstrates thestrength of ANGLE's Progeny(R) process in generating value. ANGLE's otherportfolio companies are built using the same Progeny(R) process although we havesubstantially greater equity stakes in the companies built since our flotationthan in Acolyte at exit." For further information: ANGLE plc 01483 295830Andrew Newland, Chief ExecutiveJohn Holden, Director - Ventures Development Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000Richard Darby, Suzanne Brocks, James Strong Notes to Editors ANGLEFounded in 1994, ANGLE is an international venture management and consultingcompany focusing on the commercialisation of technology and the development oftechnology-based industry. ANGLE creates, develops and advises technologybusinesses on its own behalf and for its clients. ANGLE is listed on AIM (AGL.L)and operates from offices in the UK, the US and the Middle East. Furtherinformation can be found on www.ANGLEplc.com Acolyte Biomedica LtdAcolyte Biomedica Ltd was founded in February 2000 by ANGLE in conjunction withDstl and developed under ANGLE's Progeny(R) programme. It is one of eleven suchcompanies in the ANGLE portfolio at present. Dr Bill Mullen, Acolyte's CEO is aformer ANGLE senior executive. Acolyte signed its first agreement with Dstl(then DERA) later that year. Acolyte develops, manufactures and markets rapidmicrobiology products and has an exclusive global licence to AK Rapid(R)technology, granted from Dstl for clinical and veterinary use. It has furtherdeveloped this ultra sensitive detection technology into a series of commercialprototype products, which rapidly detect the presence of bacteria and determinetheir antibiotic susceptibility direct from clinical samples such as blood. InJanuary 2006, Acolyte launched a rapid culture based MRSA test, BacLite Rapid,which can detect the presence or absence of MRSA direct from clinical samples inless than 5 hours. This is the only available rapid screening test which candiscriminate between live and dead bacteria allowing clinicians to determine therisk of resistant bacteria spreading in the hospital environment. During thetransaction, the Company was advised by AGI Corporate Finance Ltd of London, UK.www.acolytebiomedica.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange