Pharming announces Third Quarter 2009 Results
(Thomson Reuters ONE) - Leiden, The Netherlands, October 16, 2009. Biotech company PharmingGroup NV ("Pharming" or "the Company") (NYSE Euronext: PHARM)announced today its results for the first nine months of 2009 endedSeptember 30, 2009.Key financial developments * ?20.0 million Standby Equity Distribution Agreement ("SEDA") signed with YA Global Master SPV LTD ("YA Global") in April 2009, plus a ?10.0 million extension in October 2009. Total financing under the SEDA received in first nine months 2009 of ?6.6 million, with another ?23.4 million available to date; * ?70.0 million convertible bonds (issued in 2007) reduced to ?35.8 million at September 30, 2009 from ?49.9 million at year end 2008. Additional ?24.9 million cleared in the fourth quarter of 2009 to further reduce convertible debt balance to ?10.9 million; * Operational costs of ?21.5 million in the first nine months of 2009 (?18.5 million in the same period of 2008) driven by the submission of the EU Marketing Authorization Application for Rhucin® in September 2009, intensified efforts for the Rhucin program in North America and preparation for continued clinical activities of Prodarsan®; * Net loss in the first nine months of 2009 of ?23.1 million, as compared to ?19.5 million in the first nine months of 2008.Key financial data (in ?million, except per share data) Nine months Year Nine months ended ended ended September 30, December 31, September 30, 2009 2008 2008Statement of financialposition:Non-current assets 28.5 31.0 34.6(excluding restricted cash)Cash and marketablesecurities, net of bank 10.6 23.5 33.8overdraftsOther current assets 12.5 12.6 12.9Total assets 51.6 67.1 81.3Convertible bonds 27.8 35.7 50.3Other liabilities 19.0 18.9 16.3Total equity 4.8 12.5 14.7Statement of income:Grants and other income 0.5 0.7 0.4Operational costs (21.5) (30.1) (18.5)Financial and other income (2.1) 3.2 (1.4)and expensesNet loss (23.1) (26.2) (19.5)Statement of cash flows:Net cash used in operating (18.4) (21.9) (17.3)activitiesNet cash used in investment (0.3) (0.8) (0.8)activitiesNet cash from/(used in) 4.6 (18.8) (12.5)financing activitiesShare data:Outstanding shares at the 120,850,520 97,429,854 91,236,673end of the periodWeighted average shares 104,852,076 91,657,617 91,236,166outstanding in the periodBasic and diluted net loss (0.22) (0.29) (0.21)per share (?)Discussion of financial transactions and financial positionIn 2009, the Company entered into several equity transactions andconvertible bond settlements.Standby Equity Distribution Agreement with YA GlobalIn April 2009, Pharming signed into a ?20.0 million Standby EquityDistribution Agreement with YA Global. Under the terms of the Aprilagreement, YA Global can invest a total of up to ?20.0 million in athree year period. Pharming has the right, but not the obligation, tocall the funds in regular tranches. In the second quarter of 2009,the Company started using the SEDA and called a total amount of ?2.8million in cash in exchange for the issuance of approximately 4.6million Pharming shares, followed by another ?3.8 million in cash inthe second quarter in exchange for another 7.3 million shares issued.On October 5, 2009, YA Global and Pharming announced that theoriginal agreement has been extended with another ?10.0 million, sothe total facility amounts to ?30.0 million of which ?23.4 million isavailable as per today. At closing of the agreement in April,Pharming issued a one-off payment of 0.8 million commitment shareswith another 0.4 million commitment shares paid upon extension of theagreement.Convertible bonds settlements and public offerIn the first half of 2009, Pharming entered into various agreementswith several holders of bonds issued in 2007. Under these agreements,the Company successfully cancelled a total outstanding amount of?14.1 million nominal bonds in exchange for ?1.0 million cash andissuance of 9.5 million shares. Following these transactions, theoutstanding nominal value of bonds was reduced from ?49.9 million atyear end 2008 to ?35.8 million.On September 21, 2009, the Company launched a public offer on the?35.8 million remaining bonds outstanding, under which bondholderswere invited to exchange bonds (nominal value of ?50,000 each) intocash and shares (?7,500 cash and 59,000 shares per bond). On October8, 2009, Pharming announced that bondholders representing a nominalvalue of ?24.9 million (70% of outstanding bonds) had accepted theoffer and subsequently the Company paid ?3.7 million in cash andissued 29.3 million shares.In order to finance the ?5.4 million cash portion of the publicoffer, the Company transferred ?3.4 million of existing cashresources to an escrow account with the remaining ?2.0 million fundedby existing investors. The funding by these investors would becomeunconditional upon successful completion of the public offer, so thatfollowing the announcement in October 2009, the ?2.0 million isavailable to fund the public offer. In exchange for the ?2.0 millioninvestment, approximately 3.9 million shares have been issued to theinvestors. The part of the escrow account ultimately not used isabout ?1.6 million and has now become available to the Company.Following the settlements in the first half of 2009 and theconversions in the fourth quarter, annual interest payments of ?4.8million in 2008 are expected to be reduced by ?2.9 million to ?1.9million in 2009, of which ?1.5 million has already been paid in thesecond quarter, with the payment of the remaining ?0.4 millionscheduled for the fourth quarter.In compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards, uponissuance of the ?70.0 million convertible bonds, a derivative portionof ?21.7 million and transaction fees of ?3.0 million were carved outto arrive at a net liability of ?45.3 million. This initial liabilityincreases in subsequent periods through charging an effectiveinterest rate in order to, ultimately, fully equal the total amountsof nominal interest payments of 6.875% and the redemption paymentover the total five year period. As a result, the carrying value ofthe bonds at the end of each reporting period is lower than thenominal value of the outstanding bonds. At September 30, 2009, thetotal carrying value including the short-term portion of nominalinterest due is ?27.8 million as compared to nominal bonds of ?35.8million outstanding. Since formalization of the conversions tookplace subsequent to September 30, 2009, the effects will berecognised in the financial statements for the fourth quarter of2009.Discussion of resultsIn the first nine months of 2009, the Company's income increased from?0.4 million to ?0.5 million, in particular as a result of grantsreceived based on increased costs eligible for grants and increasedfacilities on certain grant programs by the Dutch government.Operational costs increased from ?18.5 million in the first ninemonths of 2008 to ?21.5 million in the same period of 2009. The ?3.0million increase primarily results from increased costs of researchand development (from ?14.8 million to ?17.5 million), reflectingPharming's submission of a Marketing Authorization Application (EU)for Rhucin in September 2009. At the same time, the Company isintensifying its efforts for the Rhucin development program in NorthAmerica and to prepare for clinical trials of Prodarsan. Pharming'sgeneral and administrative costs increased from ?2.0 million to ?2.5million, which among others reflects costs incurred with respect topreparation of the public offer to the bondholders as describedearlier.Operational costs for the first three quarters of 2009 included ?1.5million for non-cash items compared to ?1.7 million in thecomparative period in 2008. Costs of share based compensationprograms and deprecation and amortization charges remained fairlyconstant but contrary to the first nine months of 2008 no operatingasset impairment charges were incurred.Financial and other income and expenses in the nine months endedSeptember 30, 2008 and 2009 were highly affected with non-cashvaluation adjustments in relation to convertible bonds, marketablesecurities and deferred tax items as well as interest derived fromcash and marketable securities. In total, net losses from these itemsin the three quarters of 2009 were ?2.1 million compared to netlosses of ?1.4 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2008.As a result of the equity transactions and convertible bondsettlements described earlier, Pharming's total number of outstandingordinary shares increased to 154.501.037 at October 8, 2009.According to notifications pursuant to the Act on the Disclosure ofMajor Holdings and Capital Interest in Securities-IssuingInstitutions ('Wet melding zeggenschap en kapitaalbelang ineffecten-uitgevende Instellingen'), the following major shareholdersare currently known to Pharming: Number ofMajor Holdings Notification date outstanding Shareholding shares at percentage notification dateA. van Herk October 8, 2009 154.501.037 4.88Lafferty Limited December 9, 2008 97.429.854 9.97UBS AG October 8, 2009 154.501.037 8.30"Over the last ten months, we have managed to reduce our convertibledebt, while being able to protect our shareholders interests againstthe threats of highly dilutive restructurings. We are very pleasedwith the increased holding of UBS, one of the largest financialinstitutions in the world. Other decreased shareholdings are mainly aresult of the recent successful bond transaction," said Dr. Sijmen deVries, Chief Executive Officer. "We also remain confident about theCompany's perspectives, which amongst other things includes steadyprogression on partnering discussions pertaining to our lead productRhucin and with other activities aimed at strengthening our financialposition."About Pharming Group NVPharming Group NV is developing innovative products for the treatmentof genetic disorders, ageing diseases, specialty products forsurgical indications, and nutritional products. Pharming's leadproduct Rhucin® for acute attacks of Hereditary Angioedema has passedclinical development stage and the Market Authorization Applicationis under review with EMEA. Prodarsan® is in early stage clinicaldevelopment for Cockayne Syndrome and lactoferrin for use in foodproducts The advanced technologies of the Company include innovativeplatforms for the production of protein therapeutics, technology andprocesses for the purification and formulation of these products, aswell as technology in the field of DNA repair (via DNage). Additionalinformation is available on the Pharming website,http://www.pharming.com.This press release contains forward looking statements that involveknown and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which maycause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Companyto be materially different from the results, performance orachievements expressed or implied by these forward lookingstatements.Contact:Ms. Marjolein van Helmond, Pharming Group NV, T: +31 (0)71 52 47 431or +31 (0)6 109 299 54The full report including tables can be downloaded from the followinglink:http://hugin.info/132866/R/1347912/324235.pdfThis announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Datum: 16.10.2009 - 07:00 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
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