LONDON, UK: DeepVerge Plc (LSE:DVRG.L) announced the acquisition of engineering services company Glanaco Limited for consideration of, in aggregate, £1.08 million comprising £0.65 million in equity and £0.43 million in cash.
The equity issue consists of 4.55 million new ordinary shares of 0.1 pence issued at a price of 14.25p (being the closing mid-market price at close of business on 14 March 2022) with a 12 month lock-in and orderly market agreement.
The acquisition brings the testing, assembly and commissioning of new generation of MicrotoxPD (real-time pathogen detection in wastewater) in-house.
Glanaco has been a collaboration partner and contractor in the production assembly and testing of Modern Water’s MicrotoxPD equipment since August 2021, as part of the DeepVerge €2.8 million expansion programme, supported with a €750,000 grant from Irish state support funder, Enterprise Ireland.
This engineering expertise, scalable manufacturing capacity and logistics facility in Cork, Ireland, along with existing long term supply chain partners across the world, allows the Modern Water division of DeepVerge to accelerate production expansion in Europe.
The Glanaco acquisition delivers cost savings, increases control and mitigates risk of supply chain bottlenecks delivering in-house engineering expertise to drive efficiencies and lower uncertainty where supply chain disruption is seen as a barrier to global growth.
With production in-house and combining with the existing DeepVerge technology centre of excellence in Fermoy Cork, Ireland and axis with the York UK, laboratories, this acquisition allows continued innovation while maintaining rapid deployment of our Modern Water pathogen detection and identification solutions across Europe, the US, India and China.
In the year ended 31 December 2020, the most recent year for which accounts have been filed, Glanaco Limited posted profits before tax of £214,731 on turnover of £1.101 million. At 31 December 2020 it had net assets of £339,978. Its unaudited accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021 show profits before tax of £218,315 on turnover of £1.362 million, and net assets at the year end of £524,255.
DeepVerge also has growth plans within the life science division, comprising both Labskin and Skin Trust Club. The group will immediately increase the genome sequencing footprint at its North American Headquarters in New Castle, Delaware. This includes upgrading the existing laboratories, adding new equipment, and recruitment of staff at technician, informatician, scientist and customer services levels.
The facility in New Castle, Delaware will facilitate Skin Trust Club roll-out across cities on the East coast of North America. This expansion plan is designed to meet expected demand for 2022, based on the proven track record in the UK, Ireland, following the well-received soft launches in the US late last year.
Skin Trust Club is a consumer market skin testing service, making personalised skincare a reality. From laboratory test results of the Club member’s skin microbiome – for the first time – gives a comprehensive scientific based, user friendly, understanding of skin type with recommendations of products and ingredients, designed to nourish and balance the skin microbiome. 58% of club members have indicated a desire to manage known skin conditions of the outer body from scalp to feet and this funding allows the Labskin teamwork towards medical device accreditation as a medical device test platform for skin disease diagnosis.
DeepVerge is an environmental and life science group of companies that develops and applies AI and IoT technology to analytical instruments for the analysis and identification of bacteria, virus and toxins; Utilising artificial intelligent data analytics to scientifically prove the impact of skincare product claims on skin microbiome for most of the top 20 global cosmetic company clients and remotely detecting and identifying in real-time, dangerous pathogens in wastewater treatment plants, drinking water, rivers, lakes and reservoirs.