Mercia Asset Regulatory News (MERC)

Mercia Technologies PLC

("Mercia", the "Company" or the "Group")

Oxford Genetics secures significant multi-million pound contract

Mercia Technologies PLC (AIM: MERC), the national investment group focused on the creation, identification, funding and scaling of innovative technology businesses with high growth potential from the UK regions, is pleased to announce that Oxford Genetics Limited ("Oxford Genetics" or "OG") has secured a multi-million pound contract with a leading multi-billion dollar global ecommerce provider of reagents and tools to the research and clinical community.

OG is a leader in innovative synthetic biology-based technologies for biologics discovery, development and delivery with operations in the UK and US. It has significant expertise in DNA design, virus and protein-based biologics and cell lines, and is working with leading research, diagnostic and therapeutic companies and research institutes. The company's extensive use of hardware and software automation allows it to develop new and innovative solutions, the latest of which is its mammalian CRISPR cell line engineering platform.

Mercia, which holds a 40.6% equity stake in the business and has worked with OG since 2012, initially invested via its third-party managed funds before OG became a direct investment in December 2015. In the last 12 months the fast-growth biologics business has signed a number of out-licensing deals and agreements, and this deal is representative of a number of other high value third-party contracts currently under discussion and negotiation.

Ryan Cawood, Founder and CEO of Oxford Genetics, said: "The last year has been one of continued strong growth. This deal reflects our implementation of the solid foundations required to deliver scalable automated solutions in synthetic biology. Our ability to deliver hundreds of clonal cell lines at a cost-effective price, without sacrificing on quality, is clearly resonating with our customers. As we continue to scale we expect to capture a large part of this attractive and rapidly growing market."

Dr Mark Payton, Chief Executive Officer of Mercia Technologies and a non-executive director of Oxford Genetics, said: "OG is a good example of our promising direct investment portfolio of companies, many of which are now in revenue growth. The company has an extensive intellectual property estate coupled tightly with its global access to CRISPR technology. The growing quality and number of its clients is testament to the fact that the team is at the leading edge of synthetic biology innovation. I expect more positive developments from OG and a number of our other direct investments in the near to medium term."

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About Mercia Technologies PLC

Mercia is a national investment group focused on the funding and scaling of innovative technology businesses with high growth potential from the UK regions. Mercia benefits from 19 university partnerships and offices across the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland providing it with access to high quality, regional deal flow. Mercia Technologies PLC is quoted on AIM with the epic "MERC".

Mercia's 'Complete Capital Solution' initially nurtures businesses via its third-party funds (now with circa £400.0million under management following recent mandate wins) and then over time Mercia can provide further funding to its 'Emerging Stars' by deploying direct investment follow-on capital from its own balance sheet. Since its IPO in December 2014, Mercia has invested over £63.0million directly across its portfolio of 'Emerging Stars'.