OREANDA-NEWS. Valneva SE, a leading pure play vaccine company, today announced that all the resolutions proposed by the management board (excluding 1 resolution which lacked quorum) were adopted by the shareholders at its Combined General Meeting (AGM) held in Lyon on June 30, 2016.

The Company also confirmed its financial targets and growth strategy during the AGM, reiterating that it expects 2016 IFRS revenues to reach €90 to €100 million and to continue to strive towards operational break-even by reducing its 2016 EBITDA-loss to less than
€5 million. Valneva will pursue its strategy to grow revenues to around €250 million by 2020 by complementing profitable organic growth with opportunistic M&A while maximizing the value of its R&D.

Thomas Lingelbach, President and CEO and Franck Grimaud, Deputy CEO of Valneva, commented, "Thanks to the development of our vaccine sales through our newly-established commercial network and based on our Q1, we are confident that we can achieve the financial targets we set ourselves for 2016. We also expect to announce some important R&D milestones in the coming months with the Phase I entry of our Lyme vaccine candidate, the results of the proof of concept studies we conducted on Zika and the signing of a partnership agreement for the Phase III trial of our Clostridium difficile vaccine candidate."

Among the resolutions approved during the AGM were the 2015 financial statements, the reappointment of five Supervisory board members and the appointment of three new members, including Dr. Ralf Clemens and Ms. Lisa Shaw-Marotto, two leading pharma executives, each bringing decades of strategic, operational and management experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Bpifrance Participations SA, the investment arm of French state-owned bank BPI France SA, and currently Valneva's second largest shareholder, was also appointed as a member of Valneva's Supervisory board.

The resolutions also included delegations of authority to the management board to increase the Company's share capital or to issue financial instruments.

In accordance with the authorizations given by Valneva's shareholders at the AGM and in order to maintain the Company's financial flexibility, Valneva renewed its equity line with Cr?dit Agricole CIB. The new equity line, which replaces a previous instrument expired in May 2016, will enable Valneva to issue up to 5,474,633 new ordinary shares representing up to 7.33% of its ordinary share capital (subject to adjustments).

This renewed equity financing program, which extends the existing financing capabilities of the Valneva, is part of the Company's financing toolbox and will be managed by Valneva based on its financing needs. The Company does not currently intend to make use of the renewed equity line.

The equity line has been implemented by way of issuance of 5,474,633 equity warrants subscribed by Cr?dit Agricole CIB, which are exercisable, upon Valneva's request, in several tranches over the next 24 months. Should the Company trigger the exercise of the warrants, the newly issued shares would be subsequently sold on the market by Cr?dit Agricole CIB.

For each tranche, the subscription price of the shares issued upon exercise of the equity warrants will represent a 5% discount to the volume weighted average price for the three trading days preceding the pricing date.

Based on the current share price, the amount of equity that could be raised through this equity line could reach approximately €11 million. Based on the latest share prices and the financial statements as of December 31, 2015, the per-share equity attributable to owners of the Company would increase by around 0.05% on a non-diluted basis and by around 0.69% on a diluted basis (as a result of the dilutive impact of potential share issues).

About Valneva SE

Valneva is a fully integrated vaccine company that specializes in the development, manufacture and commercialization of innovative vaccines with a mission to protect people from infectious diseases through preventative medicine.

The Company seeks financial returns through focused R&D investments in promising product candidates and growing financial contributions from commercial products, striving towards financial self-sustainability.

Valneva's portfolio includes two commercial vaccines for travelers: one for the prevention of Japanese Encephalitis (IXIARO®/JESPECT®) and the second (DUKORAL®) indicated for the prevention of cholera and, in some countries, prevention of diarrhea caused by ETEC. The Company has proprietary vaccines in development including candidates against Clostridium difficile and Lyme Borreliosis. A variety of partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies complement the Company's value proposition and include vaccines being developed using Valneva's innovative and validated technology platforms (EB66® vaccine production cell line, IC31® adjuvant).

Valneva is listed on Euronext-Paris and the Vienna stock exchange and has operations in France, Austria, Scotland, Canada and Sweden with approximately 400 employees.