Corporate News

Mercia Technologies PLC (AIM: MERC), which is focused on the creation, funding and scaling of innovative businesses with high growth potential from the UK regions, is delighted to announce the successful admission of the enlarged share capital of Concepta PLC ("Concepta", AIM: CPT), one of its direct portfolio companies formerly named Concepta Diagnostics Ltd, to trading on AIM at 8.00am today.

The enlarged ordinary share capital of Concepta, comprising 109,160,573 new ordinary shares, is admitted to trading by way of a reverse takeover of Frontier Resources International plc ("Frontier"). At a General Meeting on 25 July 2016, Frontier's shareholders accepted all proposed resolutions, therefore completing the subscription, placing and open offer to raise £3.5 million in new funds to support the continued growth of the business, with Mercia investing £1.0 million as part of the placing.

Mercia now directly holds approximately 18.32% of the total share capital following the transaction. The Group has previously invested third party funds and early stage capital through Enterprise Ventures, which was acquired by the Group in March 2016. This transaction reinforces the strategic rationale behind the Enterprise Ventures acquisition, demonstrating how the expanded pipeline of third party funds, from which the Company can choose to make direct investments like Concepta, offers the opportunity to build considerable shareholder value over time.

Concepta is a healthcare company operating in the area of fertility and, more specifically, in the global market segment of unexplained infertility. Concepta's market-ready products target the personalised mobile health market.

Dr. Mark Payton, CEO of Mercia said:

"We are very pleased for Concepta and believe its successful admission to trading on AIM demonstrates the substantial potential of the companies in Mercia's portfolio of direct investments and third party managed funds. I would like to congratulate the respective teams as I know significant hard work and dedication has gone into developing Concepta with the support of our Complete Capital Solution.

"We believe that the future of this exciting healthcare technology company is very promising and Mercia looks forward to continuing to support their growth."

This announcement contains inside information as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No. 596/2014 and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of those Regulations.

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About Mercia Technologies PLC

Mercia is a national investment group focused on the creation, funding and scaling of innovative businesses with high growth potential from the UK regions. Mercia employs 60 people across six offices and it has one of the largest university networks in the UK with 18 university partnerships across the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland. These partnerships provide access to high quality, regional deal flow which accounts for approximately one third of Mercia's investments.

Mercia's 'Complete Capital Solution' enable it to scale businesses via its third party funds (with more than £220.0million under management) and then over time Mercia identifies its 'Emerging Stars' which it can provide further capital to using its own balance sheet.

Mercia focuses on sourcing and scaling businesses across four sectors: Digital & Digital Entertainment; Life Sciences and Bio-sciences; Software & the Internet and; Electronics, Materials & Manufacturing/Engineering. 

In a recent report (Source: Beauhurst, The Deal, 2015/16), Mercia was found to be the fifth most active investor in the UK and the fourth most active in technology.  Since its IPO in December 2014, the Company continues to seek early stage third party investment opportunities and it has directly invested over £24.0million across its portfolio of Emerging Stars. In addition to providing its direct investments with the required capital, Mercia also supports the management teams to build towards exits that will realise incremental value for Mercia shareholders over the medium term.

The Mercia Group comprises Mercia Technologies PLC, Mercia Fund Management Ltd and Enterprise Ventures Group Ltd. Mercia is quoted on AIM with the epic "MERC".

www.merciatech.co.uk

About Concepta Diagnostics Ltd

Based in York, and founded by a group of experienced scientists who previously worked for Unipath Limited in the fields of fertility and women's health, Concepta has developed a range of market-ready products. Its product range recently achieved product registration in one of its largest target markets, China, where the abolition of China's one-child policy is expected to drive significant demand for a cost-effective at-home fertility monitoring system as parents seek to have additional children. Concepta's product range provides reliable data to women for a variety of fertility applications, using proprietary disposable test strips and devices linked to a mobile app which captures levels of key fertility hormones in urine and builds an accurate and easy-to-understand "digital diary".