Brighter's subsidiary Nectarine Health will apply for corporate restructuring, reducing Brighter’s liquidity needs and enhancing focus on core operations
Brighter AB (Publ) (“Brighter”) announces that the board of its subsidiary Pink Nectarine Health AB (“Nectarine Health”) has today decided to commence preparations to apply for a corporate restructuring (Sw. “företagsrekonstruktion”). The decision follows a liquidity shortfall in Nectarine Health and is deemed necessary to give Nectarine Health the time required to negotiate a longer-term financial solution and implement certain operational changes. For Brighter, this has a significant positive effect on liquidity, of approximately SEK 4 million per month and thus enables a stronger focus on the core business. Brighter is well on its way to achieving the goal communicated in December 2021 of reducing costs by 50% and will continue to focus on streamlining operations. Nectarine Health believes that there are good prospects for a successful restructuring of the company and that the district court may approve an application as soon as early next week. Today's decision in Nectarine Health may entail a certain risk of an impairment against Brighter's claim of approximately SEK 65 million on Nectarine Health, but it is not possible at this stage to assess the extent. However, Brighter is optimistic that a corporate restructuring for Nectarine Health will generally improve prospects for Brighter to realize its claim on Nectarine Health.
Background
The board of Brighter and Nectarine Health have been working for some time to find an external financing solution for Nectarine Health. The challenging global capital market trends in 2022 have frustrated these efforts. In connection with this, Nectarine Health has implemented extensive organizational and operational changes to reduce costs, but due to the company's current liquidity shortage, it is thought necessary to commence preparations to file for corporate restructuring, in order to create space to find a long-term solution to the financing issue.
Nectarine Health has engaged advisers to prepare the application for corporate restructuring and believes that there are good prospects for successfully restructuring the business.
What does this mean for Brighter?
Brighter has long worked to streamline its operations, reduce cash outflows and lower its costs. The capital requirement of about SEK 4 million per month for Nectarine Health has made up a significant part of Brighter’s overall cash needs. For Brighter, this will mean a significant cost reduction and have a positive impact on liquidity. This means that Brighter is now on pace with previous communication from December 2021 to reduce the group’s overall costs by 50%. A successful corporate restructuring of Nectarine Health will enable Brighter to allocate capital and other resources more efficiently and to focus on the core business, the commercialization of Actiste Diabetes Management as a Service. Brighter is optimistic that a corporate restructuring for Nectarine Health will improve prospects for Brighter to realize its claims on Nectarine Health and either to divest its shareholding or to secure an alternative financing for Nectarine Health. During the company restructuring, Nectarine Health and Brighter will be able to continue conducting transparent dialogues with many of the parties that have shown interest in financing or acquiring Nectarine Health.
What would corporate restructuring mean for Nectarine?
Through corporate restructuring, Nectarine Health has the chance to turn around the business, which is fundamentally solid, with good prospects for profitability and long-term customer benefit. Above all in the US, where the Company has launched the Nectarine Health™ at Home solution, which is now available to business customers within home care and home services. The board of Nectarine Health hopes to find a strategic partner or new owner for the business during the restructuring and will continue its efforts to establish distribution relationships.
"Nectarine Health has developed innovative technology to help and inspire the elderly to enjoy full and satisfying lives, and to reduce anxiety among loved ones. I believe that this is the future in the segment and hope that through a successful restructuring will give Nectarine Health the opportunity to realize the potential that exists in the company. With this decision, we also move forward in our ambition for Brighter to significantly reduce costs and focus fully on the core business with Actiste Diabetes Management as a Service," said Christer Trägårdh, chairman of the board of Pink Nectarine Health AB and Brighter AB (publ).
For more information, please contact:
Investor Relations
IR@brighter.se
Certified Adviser
Brighter’s Certified Adviser is Mangold Fondkommission AB,
About Brighter
Brighter is a health-tech company from Sweden with a vision of a world where managing chronic diseases is no longer a struggle. We believe a data-centric approach is key to providing smarter care for chronic conditions. Our daily-care solutions are designed with a vision to facilitate the flow of real-life treatment data between chronic-disease patients, their loved ones and their care providers – aiming to improve quality of life, easing the burden on healthcare systems, and opening new opportunities for data-driven research. Brighter's quality management system is ISO13485 certified. In 2019 the Company won the Swecare Rising Stars Award. The Company's shares are listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market/BRIG. For more information, please visit our website at www.brighter.se.
This information is information that Brighter AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, on 23 September at 15:15 CEST.