Report

Avacta Group - £33m raise to progress drug pipeline

Avacta has announced an equity raise for up to £26.8m, since increased to £32.5m on strong demand. The funds raised are to progress the drug development pipeline, primarily for Avacta's lead clinical asset AVA6000, where the company anticipates a potential start of the expansion cohorts in several orphan diseases in 2H24 followed by the Phase 2 study, consistent with previous guidance. Avacta has also confirmed its intention to divest its Diagnostics division in a manner which maximises benefit for shareholders and to explore a possible NASDAQ listing. Cash at 1 January stood at £16.6m, which was significantly better than consensus expectations and indicates a sharp reduction in the pace of net cash utilisation in 2H23. Nevertheless, given the funding requirement to get AVA6000 into Phase 2 readiness and its importance to the Avacta investment thesis as the company's lead clinical asset, we believe this is a prudent step.
Underlying
Avacta Group

Avacta Group is a biotechnology company that is developing biotherapeutics and reagents based on its proprietary Affimer technology, an engineered alternative to antibodies. Affimer® reagents and therapeutics are a class of non-antibody binding proteins that have been engineered for a range of applications where antibodies and aptamers have limitations. Co. has two operating segments: Life Sciences, which provides custom Affimers for reagents and diagnostics, drug and biomarker discovery in biotech research and development; and Animal Health, which provides tools and contract services to assist diagnosis of conditions in animals to enable treatment for veterinarians.

Provider
Capital Access Group
Capital Access Group

Capital Access Group advises companies on effective engagement with investors. Our experienced team offers market-leading access with hard-to-reach investors, including smaller institutions, pension funds and private client fund managers. These under-serviced investors are located not only in London but across the regions of the UK and Europe. We have an unrivalled knowledge of this extensive audience, to whom our published research is distributed, as well as to larger institutions. We offer this service as part of an integrated investor communications strategy to promote a company’s investment story.

Our clients, ranging from AIM to FTSE 100 companies, benefit from our professional, long-term relationships with investors. Not only do we identify and target investors, we contact them directly and relay their views back to clients with analysis, interpretation and advice. This ensures that our clients are in control of their investor engagement. The objective is to improve the reach and engagement with investors, which in turn strengthens the share price.

Analysts
Colin Smith

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