UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of report (Date of earliest event reported): January 25, 2021

Verona Pharma plc

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

3 More London Riverside

London SE1 2RE

United Kingdom

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

+44 203 283 4200

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

N/A

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

* The ordinary shares are represented by American Depositary Shares (each representing 8 ordinary shares), which are exempt from the operation of Section 12(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, pursuant to Rule 12a-8 thereunder.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§ 230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§ 240.12b-2 of this chapter).

Emerging growth company  x

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  x

Item 2.02.           Results of Operations and Financial Condition.

Although it has not finalized its full financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, Verona Pharma plc (the “Company”) expects to report that it had approximately $188.0 million in cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2020.

The information contained in this Item 2.02 of this Current Report on Form 8-K (the “Form 8-K”) is unaudited and preliminary, and does not present all information necessary for an understanding of the Company’s financial condition as of December 31, 2020 and its results of operations for the three months and year ended December 31, 2020. The audit of the Company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020 is ongoing and could result in changes to the information set forth above.

The information contained in this Item 2.02 of the Form 8-K shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that Section, nor shall it be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing of the Company under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except as expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.

Forward-Looking Statements

This Form 8-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this Form 8-K that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the Company’s expected financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2020. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from our expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including without limitation general business, financial and accounting risks, and the other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Registration Statement on Form F-1 filed with the SEC on August 17, 2020 and our Report on Form 6-K filed with the SEC on November 24, 2020, as any such factors may be updated from time to time in our other filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and the Investors page of our website at www.veronapharma.com/investors. Any such forward-looking statements represent management's estimates as of the date of this Form 8-K. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this Form 8-K.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.