21 July 2021

Apollon Formularies Plc

Senior Appointments

Apollon Formularies plc (AQSE: APOL, "Apollon" or the "Company"), a UK based international pharmaceutical company trading on Aquis Stock Exchange, with fully licensed operations in Jamaica is pleased to announce that it has appointed Stephen Barnhill Jr. and Stene Jacobs as joint Chief Operating Officers ("COO"), in non-main board roles. Stephen Barnhill Jr. will focus his attentions on Jamaica, the Caribbean, and North America, whilst Stene Jacobs will focus on Apollon's operations across Europe and Africa.

Stephen was a Co-Founder and President of Apollon Formularies Inc. in the US, established in 2014. He was instrumental in the international expansion of Apollon Formularies to Jamaica in 2015, starting Apollon Formularies Jamaica Ltd. Once established in Jamaica, Stephen was instrumental in Apollon obtaining a suite of vertical medical cannabis licenses from the Cannabis License Authority (CLA) including Cultivation Research and Development, Processing, and Retail Therapeutic. These licenses were key to allowing Apollon Formularies Jamaica to become a federally legal medical cannabis operation in Jamaica. Stephen was then involved in the expansion of Apollon to Europe and assisted in the transformation to a publicly traded company on the AQSE Growth Market in April 2021.

Stephen is Co-Founder and President of Doc's Place International, an award-winning health and wellness resort located in Negril, Jamaica, where Jamaican and international patients can stay while being treated by Apollon Formularies Jamaica's team of licensed medical doctors.

Stephen is also the Founder and CEO of CBev Ventures Inc., a medical cannabis beverage company offering the High Spirits brand of drinks.

Stene joined Apollon in December 2020 as Head of Corporate Development where he has already helped foster and develop strategic relationships within the medical cannabis arena in Europe and Africa. He has been a core member of the Apollon team in the lead up to, and post-listing on the AQSE Growth Market.  

He started his career in the Navy where he qualified as a South African Navy Diver in 1992. After leaving the Navy, he began a long career spanning 20 years in Real Estate where he acquired a wide range of expertise in property development, real estate finance, debt and equity structuring and corporate finance. 

He brings substantial senior level operational experience to the team. He honed his skills in residential property development, moving into commercial development in 2010. During this period, he successfully completed 15 projects for Standard Bank premises, as an independent consultant for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China - a Forbes no.1 Company in 2013. From 2006 to 2015 he was responsible for a multi-property portfolio of over a hundred properties, initially in the capacity as trustee, but was subsequently elected as Chairman in 2011, presiding over this role until 2015.  

Stene also has strong entrepreneurial experience with a history of successful start-ups and has been a key player in enabling strategic growth for new ventures in various capacities. He is the Co-Founder and Director of Eyecom LED Solutions, which has grown to be the largest provider of premier specialist LED technology on the African continent with operations expanding into Europe in 2022.

In 2015 he joined Viridi Data Centres in the role of COO where he was pivotal in establishing its new business in Paris, along with multi-unit UK based residential schemes encompassing in-depth planning enhancement, and substantial work on regeneration.

In 2018 he took a role as Operations Director at Peritus Corporate Finance where he had oversight of all operational activities and was able to further hone his skills in corporate finance, debt acquisition, and equity finance on a wide range of complex transactions.

Stephen D. Barnhill, M.D., CEO of Apollon, commented, "We are pleased to bring these exceptional people, who have both been pivotal in Apollon's success thus far, onto our executive management team. Apollon's strategy for growth is something we are giving a lot of attention to and utilising the skills and experience that Stephen and Stene possess, I am confident that we will start to see significant global expansion and revenue generation."

The Directors of the Company are responsible for this announcement.

- End -

For additional information, please visit www.apollon.org.uk or contact:

Apollon Formularies                                                     

Tel:                                         +44 207 907 9314

Stene Jacobs                      stene@apollon.org.uk 

Peterhouse Capital Limited (Corporate Adviser)             

Tel:                                         +44 207 220 9795

Guy Miller                           gm@peterhousecapital.com

Blytheweigh (Financial PR/IR-London)                 

Tel:                                         +44 207 138 3204

Tim Blythe                           tim.blythe@blytheweigh.com

Megan Ray                         megan.ray@blytheweigh.com 

About Apollon and Apollon Jamaica

Apollon Formularies plc is an international medical cannabis company headquartered in the United Kingdom. Apollon Formularies Jamaica Limited is a pharmaceutical company incorporated and operating in the Commonwealth of Jamaica. Apollon Jamaica is licensed by the Jamaican government's Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) to cultivate, perform research and development, process, and sell medical cannabis therapeutic products that include legal medical cannabis in order to treat various illnesses under medical supervision. Apollon and Apollon Jamaica are parties to a Commitment Agreement whereby Apollon is entitled to 95% of Apollon Jamaica's Net Profits, and per a Stock Pledge Agreement that includes Stephen D. Barnhill, M.D., Apollon is to be assigned the entire 49% equity interest of Apollon Jamaica held by Dr. Barnhill, which is the maximum interest in a medical cannabis company allowed to be held by a non-Jamaican, upon the CLA approving the assignment.