Admission to AIM

Symphony Plastic Technologies PLC
30 November 2001


For Immediate Release                                          30 November 2001



                      SYMPHONY PLASTIC TECHNOLOGIES PLC


                            FIRST DAY OF DEALINGS

                     ON THE ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT MARKET


Symphony Plastic Technologies plc ('Symphony' or 'the Group'), a company
specialising in fully degradable plastics and other related products, is
pleased to announce the details of its fund raising and admission to the
Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange ('AIM').

Peel Hunt PLC is the Nominated Adviser to the issue and Canaccord Capital
(Europe) Limited the Broker.


PLACING STATISTICS


Placing Price per Ordinary Share                                            30p

Number of Ordinary Shares in issue immediately prior to the Placing  23,239,644

Number of Ordinary Shares in issue immediately following completion
of the Placing                                                       29,739,644

Number of Ordinary Shares placed with institutions                    6,500,000

Percentage of enlarged share capital placed with institutions            21.86%

Market capitalisation following the Placing at the placing price         £8.92m

Directors' interests as a percentage of the enlarged share capital       38.33%
following the Placing


Key Points :



-     Symphony has developed and marketed polythene products that will totally
degrade as a plastic material leaving only harmless solids, water and a
minimal amount of carbon dioxide


-     The degradable plastic additive used in Symphony's SPI-Tek degradable
products does not significantly increase manufacturing costs


-     Symphony has successfully raised £1.95 million by way of a Placing with
institutional and other investors


-     Open Offer of 1,106,874 shares at 30p per share for existing
shareholders, the Offer closing on 18 December 2001



Commenting on the first day of dealings on AIM, Michael Laurier, Chief
Executive of Symphony, said:


'We are delighted that we have been able to raise the required funds to take
Symphony onto its next stage of development.  The listing on AIM provides
Symphony with the necessary capital structure to grow the Group quickly and to
establish our degradable SPI-Tech products as one of the most advanced
solutions to the global problem of managing plastic waste.'




For further information, please call :


Symphony                                       Tel: [phone]
Michael Laurier, CEO
Buchanan Communications                        Tel: [phone]
Bobby Morse / Louise Bolton                    Tel: [phone]




BackGround to Symphony



Symphony was founded in 1995 and manufactures and sells a wide range of
polythene packaging products and other plastic products predominantly to the
retail industry and local authority sector.  It also supplies flexible plastic
products to the medical and construction markets. In addition, hot and cold
water soluble laundry bags as well as soluble strip laundry bags are marketed
to hospitals and occasionally exported.



The Group's degradable products, branded SPI-Tek, form the principal focus of
Symphony's current business and future development programme.  These
award-winning products currently include refuse sacks, bin-liners, food and
freezer bags, carrier bags, packaging for fruit producers and organic waste
collection sacks.



The production of the Group's degradable products involves the blending into
the plastic mix a totally degradable plastic additive ('TDPA') which
eventually causes total degradation of the plastic material.  TDPA additives
and SPI-Tek know-how do not significantly increase the total cost of the
manufacturing process.  The degradation time can be controlled according to
the application requirement.



The Group's non-degradable products, branded Tuffy(R) include bin liners,
refuse sacks, freezer bags, rubber gloves, garden bags, bin liners,
non-branded carrier bags, medical gloves, clinical waste bags and construction
products, such as damp-proof membranes, tarpaulins, flame retardant products
and sand bags.



The Market



The polythene market in the UK has been valued by the Directors at
approximately £1 billion per annum, based on annual volume of approximately
one million tonnes per annum (£1,000 per tonne - Source: Applied Market
Information).  The global polythene market has been valued by the Directors at
£50 billion per annum, based on annual consumption of 50 million tonnes.



Considerable pollution is currently generated by waste plastic.  Landfill
sites are running out of space, an alternative is to burn the waste but there
are major misgivings regarding the impact of emissions, especially of dioxins
on local communities.  These problems are exacerbated by the life-span of the
waste plastic, which typically takes approximately 100 years to degrade.
Another option is to sort the waste then to recycle it.  In the UK,
approximately 9 per cent. of waste is recycled, but recycled plastic loses
quality.  The Directors believe that the use of SPI-Tek totally degradable
products, where applicable, will substantially reduce plastic pollution as
well as saving landfill space.



Beyond the UK, governments are keen to encourage the reduction in build up of
plastic pollution. The European Union consumes in excess of approximately six
and a half million tonnes of polythene per annum. The EC Directive 94/62/EC of
20 December 1994, on packaging and packaging waste, has been adopted
throughout the European Union. The Directive prescribes 50 per cent. to 65 per
cent. minimum targets for recovery and recycling of packaging materials within
a five year period.  Bio-degradation and compostability are recognised as
means of recovery by this Directive.



Strategy



A low cost degradable polythene product has applications in a number of market
sectors, some of which are new to Symphony while others are in sectors in
which the Group already has presence through its non-degradable products.  The
Group's strategy for developing its SPI-Tek products reflects the need to
maintain a balance between pursuing a wide range of selling options and
focusing on those sectors in which the company has an existing presence.



Prior to the launch of its degradable products, the Company was active in the
local authority, retail, food production and construction sectors. The
Directors believe that the development of a low-cost, degradable product range
enables the Company to differentiate itself strongly in the first three of
those sectors; degradability is not regarded by the Directors as a benefit to
most construction industry users.



Principal Customers



Local authority sector

Symphony is supplying on a regular basis a number of local authorities
including Basildon District, Hertfordshire County, Richmond Upon Thames,
Watford, and Aberdeenshire councils.  Local authorities are introducing
stringent new statutory recycling targets to attempt to bring the UK into line
with countries such as the Netherlands (the Netherlands recycles 45 per cent.
of domestic waste compared with 9 per cent. in the U.K.) The new targets
involve raising the UK percentage in stages, to 17 per cent. by 2003, 25 per
cent. by 2005, 30 per cent. by 2010 and 33 per cent. by 2015. These targets
will enable the UK to comply with the EC Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999
on landfill waste that will require the reduction of the amount of waste
deposited in dumps from 85 per cent. to 35 per cent. within 15 years.



Retail groups

The Group supplies SPI-Tek refuse sacks and bin liners for resale directly to
several large outlets, including Safeway and Poundstretcher.  It also has an
18 month renewable contract to supply Musgrave, the Republic of Ireland
supermarket group with carrier bags. The initial term of the contract provides
for the supply of approximately 140 million carrier bags.  In addition
Musgrave also stock the Tuffy  degradable refuse sacks for resale. The
procurement structure in the retail sector requires Symphony to focus its
marketing effort on not only the retailers themselves but also on specialist
distributors which the retailers use to provide logistics support.  For
example, through Axxis International Limited, a logistics and supply chain
management specialist, significant orders have been placed by Tesco for refuse
sacks and by Wal*Mart for a range of refuse sacks and bin liners for its
German operations.



Food manufacturers and suppliers

Fyffes and Capespan International have estimated their combined annual
consumption of plastic to be in excess of 10,000 tonnes and have introduced a
policy that all their plastic packaging, where practicable, should be
degradable. The Group is supplying point-of-sale packaging and box liners to
Fyffes. Advanced trials are taking place with tree bags in its plantations. In
early 2000, Capespan International conducted successful modified atmosphere
packaging trials using SPI-Tek degradable bags on a range of fruits and is
currently carrying out follow-up testing. Windwards Bananas is also about to
begin trials on banana tree bags.



In addition, Fyffes is working with Symphony Environmental (a fully owned
subsidiary of Symphony) to promote degradable plastic materials.  The two
companies jointly launched a widely distributed educational pack and CD ROM
for primary schools describing the history and benefits of plastic and SPI-Tek
technology.



West of Scotland Packaging, on behalf of its customer, Allied Bakeries, has
carried out trials with bread bags. These have been successfully tested by
Western Research Laboratories, the research and development division of Allied
Bakeries. Allied Bakeries currently uses approximately 800 million bread bags
per annum and has an approximate 33 per cent. share of the bread market in the
UK.  W Price Group, the largest supplier of organic bread in the UK, has also
performed trials on Symphony's SPI-Tek products.



Export markets



Symphony's export strategy is focused on the Middle East, the Republic of
Ireland and the Caribbean.  The Directors consider that the most effective way
to maximise the opportunities to market the Group's SPI-Tek products globally
is to form alliances with strategic partners.



The Group has set up a Joint Venture in Abu Dhabi. Pursuant to the Joint
Venture Agreement, Symphony has entered into the Agency Agreement with Bin
Hilal Enterprises Est. which gives Bin Hilal Enterprises Est. the exclusive
rights to sell SPI-Tek and Tuffy(R) products in the Middle-East, including the
United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Yemen,
Egypt, Lebanon and Iran.



Current Trading



Having experienced some initial success with the supply of SPI-Tek products to
local authorities and retailers, Symphony's future success will depend on
increased market  penetration for these products to a level at which the costs
invested in the initial development and continuing maintenance of these
products are recovered.



Evidence so far in the current year, ending on 31 December 2001, suggests that
Symphony is continuing to achieve success in marketing its SPI-Tek products.
Group sales to September 2001 reached £2,905,000 of which £1,495,000 was
SPI-Tek.  This compares to £3,198,000 for the whole year ended 31 December
2000 of which £1,183,000 was SPI-Tek.  SPI-Tek sales in the first nine month
of 2001 were therefore already 26 per cent. ahead of the whole year, with
non-degradable product sales remaining constant.  In view of the solid start
to the current year and a considerable pipeline of potential new business, the
Board remains confident of the Group's future prospects.



Symphony continues to invest in product development and marketing and,
following the Placing and Open Offer, expects to use part of the proceeds of
the Placing and Open Offer to increase such investment still further.




Use of Proceeds



The proceeds of the Placing and Open Offer will be used:



-     to finance the increased working capital demands which will be made on
Symphony as its degradable plastics business expands, organically or through
suitable acquisitions or joint ventures;


-     to invest in high calibre marketing employees who can not only
communicate the technical aspects of the Group's products but who understand
the issues associated with global plastic pollution and degradability;



-     to invest in further product development; and



-     to fund increased marketing  expenses, principally in the areas of
branding, advertising and public relations to promote consumer awareness of
the Group's range of degradable products.



The Board



Christopher Littmoden, FCA, CBE, aged 58, Non-executive Chairman

Christopher was appointed non-executive Chairman on 16 July 2001.  He has 25
years' experience of branded retailing, having worked for Marks & Spencer plc
from 1974 to 1999, in a variety of commercial and financial roles, including
running Marks & Spencer's North American and Canadian division. He was
appointed to the main board with responsibility for finance in 1991.  Since
leaving Marks & Spencer in 1999, he has acted as non-executive Chairman of
easier plc and chief operating officer and managing director of Systems Union
plc.  He is currently an adviser to the Immigration and Nationality
Directorate of the Home Office and a non-executive director of Alldays plc.



Michael Laurier, aged 51, Chief Executive

Michael's career began with his long established family packaging business,
Brentwood Sack and Bag Co. Limited. He took over responsibility for sales and
production in the mid-1970s and changed the emphasis of the company's business
from jute products to polythene packaging, introducing the then innovative
high density and medium density polythene bags into the UK market in 1975. He
was appointed managing director of Brentapac UK plc, which formerly owned the
Tuffy trademark, in 1985, with continuing responsibility for national and
international sales. He co-founded Symphony in 1995.



Ian Bristow, FCCA, aged 32, finance director

Ian was in private practice for seven years, qualifying as a certified
accountant in 1992. In 1995, he joined Brentapac UK Plc until it was sold in
1994, when he co-founded Symphony.



Michael F Stephens, aged 51, Sales and Technical Director

Michael began his career with Excelsior Plastics Limited, a division of
Unigate, progressing over a period of ten years from assistant production
manager to sales director. Since leaving Excelsior Plastics in 1981, he worked
for Sempol Products, Autobar Group and ACP Plastics (a subsidiary of S.P.
Metal Group), all manufacturers of packaging films.  In 1988, Michael founded
Packaging International Limited, a plastic packaging manufacturing company
serving the snack food, bakery, mail wrap, paper disposable markets, which he
left in November 1997 to join the Group. He maintains his connections with
European plastic manufacturers and has served on various committees and sector
groups for the Packaging Industrial Films Association.



Keith L Frener, aged 40, Operations Director

Keith started his career with Brentwood Sack & Bag Co Limited in 1979 and was
responsible for the development of a range of innovative polythene products,
mainly for the 'do-it-yourself' market. Over a 16 year period, he progressed
to sales manager and then sales director, before leaving to co-found Symphony
in 1995.



Nirj Deva, DL FRSA MEP, aged 52, Non executive Director and Deputy Chairman

A member of the European Parliament and a former Conservative MP, Nirj has
held a number of senior political appointments and has advised the boards of a
number of public companies including International Leisure Group Plc, Air
Europe Plc, Tricentrol Oil Co Plc, EDS, Television South West, Thomas Howell
Group, John Laing Plc, and Rothmans International Plc.



Ends