FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

30 December 2006

FIRST DAY OF TRADING FOR NEXTGEN GROUP PLC SHARES AND WARRANTS

NextGen Group plc (the “Company”) announces that it has successfully completed its fundraising and admission to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and that trading of Ordinary Shares (LSE: NGG) and Warrants (LSE: NGGW) in the Company has commenced today.

The Group is a provider of expert systems, services and reagents focussed on enabling enhanced access to, and understanding of the role of, proteins in diagnosis and drug discovery.

The expert systems are built out of NextGen Sciences’ understanding of biological sciences and combine robotics, advanced engineering and rules-based software in systems that range from partial to fully automated. NextGen Sciences also uses its systems and instruments to provide fee-for-service products to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry as well as to those in academic research.

NextGen Sciences has developed a range of products several of which have already been marketed to the biopharmaceutical industry including:

  • OrchestratorIMS™ – an expert system which provides a link between biology, software and hardware.
  • The ExpressionFactory™, the ExpressionWorkstation™ and the BaculoWorkstation™ – advanced robotics systems for high-throughput gene cloning and protein expression.
  • The a2DE Optimizer™ – a proprietary instrument enabling the customisation of 2D electrophoresis gels, a major advance in protein analysis.

In addition, NextGen Sciences has introduced a growing range of consumable reagents for use with the above products.

As part of the listing the Company undertook a placing of Ordinary Shares and Warrants to raise net proceeds of approximately £1.9 million, details of which were as follows

Placing Price (per Unit)

 6p
Equivalent to a price per Ordinary Share being placed of

3p
Number of Ordinary Shares in issue prior to the Placing

613,399,909
Number of Units being placed on behalf of the Company

40,000,000
Maximum number of Ordinary Shares to be issued in satisfaction of the
Additional Share Exchange Consideration (if any)

169,213,768
Percentage of the Enlarged Share Capital subject to the Placing

 11.48%
Number of Ordinary Shares in issue immediately following Admission

 696,733,242
Market capitalisation of the Company on Admission at the Placing Price

 £20.9m
Estimated net proceeds receivable by the Company pursuant to the
Placing after expenses (excluding VAT)

£1.9m
Fully diluted share capital (assuming exercise of all Warrants and maximum number of shares issued pursuant to Additional Share Exchange Consideration) 919,876,174

Commenting on the listing, Dr James Heffernan, CEO of the Company said:

“We are delighted that the Company has been able to successfully list on AIM. The money we have raised should give the Group the additional resource that it requires to commercialise its range of products and new drug discovery support services for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.”

-ends-

Contacts for further information:

James Heffernan, CEO
NextGen Group
01480 420 979

Jonathan Wright
Seymour Pierce Ltd
020 7107 8000

Mike Wort/ Anna Dunphy
Beattie Communications
020 7053 6406


Definitions

The following definitions apply throughout this announcement:

“Group” the Company, NextGen Sciences and NextGen Sciences Inc.

“NextGen Sciences” NextGen Sciences Limited

“Ordinary Share” an ordinary share of 0.1p each in the Company

“Unit” a unit comprising two Ordinary Shares and one Warrant

“Warrant” a warrant to subscribe for one Ordinary Share at 3p per share

NextGen Sciences trading as NextGen Group PLC.

Notes to Editors:

NextGen Group PLC (LSE:NGG) is a provider of expert systems, services and reagents focused on enabling enhanced access to and understanding of the role of proteins in diagnosis and drug discovery. The expert systems are built out of NextGen’s understanding of biological sciences and combine robotics, advanced engineering and rules based software in systems that range from partial to fully automated. NextGen also uses its systems and instruments to provide fee-for-service products to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry as well as those in academic research. (for details visit www.nextgensciences.com)

If you can’t open this electronic message, visit www.nextgensciences.com

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