TIDMSYM
RNS Number : 8852W
Symphony Environmental Tech. PLC
06 August 2018
6 August 2018
The information communicated within this announcement is deemed
to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market
Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this
announcement, this inside information is considered to be in the
public domain
Trading & Operations Update
("Symphony", the "Group" or the "Company")
Symphony Environmental Technologies Plc (AIM: SYM), a global
specialist in products and technologies that "make plastic
smarter", is pleased to provide a positive trading and operations
update and healthy outlook.
Symphony's commercial proposition continues to respond
positively to the global challenge of eliminating harmful plastic
waste - placing the Group in a strong market position for the
future.
Financial highlights (unaudited)
-- Group revenues up 11% to GBP4.1 million for the six months to
30 June 2018 (H1-2017: GBP3.7million)
-- Revenues from the Group's d2w oxo-biodegradable technologies
were stable at GBP3.6 million (H1-2017: GBP3.6 million). However,
due to US dollar depreciation in the period compared with H1-2017,
d2w revenues on a constant currency basis would have been
approximately 11% higher. Ramadan and Eid (17 May to 15 June) also
significantly reduced June sales from Symphony's main Middle East
market with orders being deferred to July
-- Revenues from the Group's d2p anti-microbial technologies
increased significantly to GBP0.5 million for the six months to 30
June 2018 (H1-2017: GBP0.0 million)
-- Sales and marketing spend increased by approximately GBP0.2
million during H1-2018 in line with management expectations
-- Healthy balance sheet with net cash of GBP0.6 million at 30
June 2018 (31 December 2017: GBP0.6 million, 30 June 2017: net debt
GBP0.6 million)
-- The second half of the year has started well and the Board
are confident the Group will meet full year market expectations
Operational highlights
d2w "oxo-biodegradable" ("OXO")
-- OXO technologies continue to represent the majority of the
Group's revenues and are principally derived from outside
Europe
-- These products are mainly for single use plastics which
include, but are not limited to, shopping bags, bin liners,
diapers, coffee capsules, drinking straws, agricultural and food
and other packaging films
-- Increasing regulation in favour of OXO type additives. Eleven
governments globally have now mandated that certain plastic
products must contain oxo-biodegradable additives
-- More robust enforcement of this legislation is generating
increased d2w revenues, particularly in the Middle East and
Pakistan
-- Eco-label for d2w renewed by Brazillian standards authority, ABNT, following a full audit
-- Pursuant to the Oxomar Project ("OXOMAR" - see notes below)
which is sponsored by ANR, the French National Research Agency,
French scientists have recently published a paper demonstrating
enhanced bacterial colonisation of degraded oxo-biodegradable
plastics
d2p "designed to protect"
-- Symphony has continued to invest into a range of speciality
products which are synergistic with its customer base so as to
expand the product offering.
-- Latex and nitrile household glove sales increasing
significantly in Italy, and now listed in numerous large retail
outlets
-- Anti-microbial glove sales also increasing in the UAE and the United States
-- Having launched the world's first d2p antimicrobial water
pipe in Pakistan last year, repeat orders were placed in the
period.
-- NSF International has certified d2p antimicrobial masternatch
for use in water pipes for North America having conformed with the
requirements of NSF/ANSI Standard 61 - Drinking Water System
Components
-- Flame retardant approvals obtained in the United States (NF94
and NFPA standards), the UK (LPS 1207) and the EU (NFP 92-503)
-- Range of d2p products expanded with production of hospital
overalls, examination gloves and tooth brushes having commenced in
the period
Michael Laurier, Symphony CEO said: "The momentum we announced
in our Trading Update on 15 May 2018 has continued, particularly on
a constant currency basis, but also and inspite of a quieter June
for our d2w OXO technologies due to Ramadan and Eid affecting our
Middle East markets.
"In addition, the Group's investment in and development of
innovative new products in our d2p range of products is driving
commercial growth. The Italian market for d2p retail gloves is
progressing strongly as more stores are listing the product and our
distributor is performing well.
"Our strategy to become a multi-product Group continues to
progress as more of our projects reach the commercialisation phase.
Symphony has a growing range of "making plastic smarter"
technologies as additives for use by plastic producers and
innovative finished products for end customer use.
"Whilst recent media coverage has not fairly presented the
scientifically proven benefit of oxo-biodegradable technology such
as d2w OXO, the recent paper by French scientists is consistent
with the conclusions of the many other studies and tests performed
on d2w OXO over the last 20+ years.
"Symphony's d2w OXO technology is validated in terms of
degradability, biodegradability, and ecotoxicity by reference to
existing European and US Standards, and also conforms with the EU
Packaging Waste Directive.
"The Board is of the view that this is a pivitol period, with
growing demand for our suite of technologies. We expect to sell
record volumes of both our d2w and d2p products this year and look
forward to the second half of the year with optimism. We are
confident the Group will meet market expectations for this
financial year."
Enquiries
Symphony Environmental Technologies Plc
Michael Laurier, CEO Tel: +44 (0) 20 8207
5900
Ian Bristow, CFO
www.symphonyenvironmental.com
Cantor Fitzgerald Europe (Nominated Adviser
and Broker)
David Foreman/Richard Salmond (Corporate Tel: +44 (0) 20 7894
Finance) 7000
Caspar Shand Kydd (Sales)
FTI Consulting (Financial PR)
Daniel Hamilton Tel: +44 (0) 7813
456720
NOTES TO EDITORS:
About Symphony Environmental Technologies plc
Symphony has developed and continues to develop, controlled-life
plastic technology which helps tackle the problem of microplastics
by turning ordinary plastic at the end of its service-life into
biodegradable materials. It is then no longer a plastic and can be
bioassimilated in the open environment in the same way as a leaf.
The technology is branded d(2) w(R) and appears as a droplet logo
on many thousands of tonnes of plastic packaging and other plastic
products around the world. In some countries, most recently Saudi
Arabia, oxo-biodegradable plastic is mandatory.
In addition, Symphony has developed a range of additives,
concentrates and master-batches marketed under its d2p(R) brand,
which can be incorporated in a wide variety of plastic and
non-plastic products so as to give them protection against many
different types of bacteria, fungi, algae, moulds, and insects, and
against fire. d2p products also include odour, moisture and
ethylene adsorbers as well as other types of food-preserving
technologies. We have also launched d2p anti-microbial household
gloves and are developing a range of other d2p finished products
for retail sale.
Symphony has also developed the d(2) Detector(R), a portable
device which analyses plastics and detects counterfeit products.
This is useful to government officials tasked with enforcing
legislation, and Symphony's d(2) t tagging and tracer technology is
available for further security.
Symphony has a diverse and growing customer-base and has
established itself as an international business with 74
distributors around the world. Products made with Symphony's
plastic technologies are now available in nearly 100 countries and
in many different product applications. Symphony itself is
accredited to ISO9001 and ISO14001.
Symphony is a member of The Oxo-biodegradable Plastics
Association (www.biodeg.org) (OPA), the Society for the Chemical
Industry (UK), and the Pacific Basin Environmental Council.
Symphony is also a strategic partner of the Commonwealth business
initiative, and actively participates in the Committee work of the
British Standards Institute (BSI), the American Standards
Organisation (ASTM), the European Standards Organisation (CEN), and
the International Standards Organisation (ISO).
Further information on the Symphony Group can be found at
www.symphonyenvironmental.com and twitter @SymphonyEnv
See also Symphony on Instagram A Symphony App is available for downloading to smartphones.
BBC World Service film introducing d2w oxo-biodegradable
(controlled-life) plastic technology
From within the UK-
http://www.symphonyenvironmental.com/d2w/d2w-brochure-5/
From outside of the UK -
http://www.bbc.com/storyworks/the-british-bid/symphony
About OXOMAR
The OXOMAR project commenced in 2017 and is sponsored by ANR,
the French National Research Agency. For further details on OXOMAR
please see the following links
http://www.agence-nationale-recherche.fr/en/anr-funded-project/?tx_lwmsuivibilan_pi2%5BCODE%5D=ANR-16-CE34-0007
http://lomic.obs-banyuls.fr/fr/axe_4_ecotoxicologie_et_ingenierie_metabolique_microbienne/oxomar.html
For details of the paper referred to above:
Dussud, C., Hudec, C., George, M., Fabre, P., Higgs, P.,
Bruzaud, S., Delort, A., Eyheraguibel, B., Meistertzheim, A.,
Jacquin, J., Cheng, J., Callac, N., Odobel, C., Rabouille, S. and
Ghiglione, J. (2018). Colonization of Non-biodegradable and
Biodegradable Plastics by Marine Microorganisms. Frontiers in
Microbiology, 9.
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