Interim Results
Symphony Plastic Technologies PLC
12 September 2002
For Immediate Release Thursday 12 September 2002
SYMPHONY PLASTIC TECHNOLOGIES PLC
INTERIM RESULTS
FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2002
AND
WIBDECO ORDER
Symphony Plastic Technologies plc ('Symphony' or 'the Group'), the AIM listed
degradable plastics company, is pleased to announce its interim results for the
six months ended 30th June 2002. Symphony also announces today an order to
supply the Windward Islands Banana Development and Exporting Company ('WIBDECO')
operations in St. Lucia with degradable banana tree-sleeving.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Sales of degradable products (SPI-Tek(TM) - now d2w(TM)) up 54% to £1.58m
(2001 H1: £1.03m)
- Group turnover up 18% to £2.38m (2001 H1: £2.02m)
- Group gross profit up 62% to £0.48m (2001 H1: £0.29m)
- Group gross margins increased to 20.05% (2001 H1: 14.64%)
- H1 operating losses reduced to £0.57m (2001 H1: £0.74m)
Commenting on the results, Christopher Littmoden, Chairman of Symphony, said:
'I am delighted to report a significant improvement in trading performance for
the first half of this year and look forward to further progress towards the end
of the year and into 2003. Recently announced contracts, including Co-op and
Somerfield, have given us around 12% of the UK retail grocery carrier bag market
and has raised public awareness of the environmental benefits of our d2w(TM)
technology. We are also pleased to announce our first order with WIBDECO, which
will provide Symphony with another application for our leading technology. We
look forward to the future with great optimism.'
For further information, please contact:
Symphony
Michael Laurier, CEO Tel: 020 8207 5900
Ian Bristow, FD
Buchanan Communications Tel: 020 7466 5000
Bobby Morse / Louise Bolton
Attached: Chief Executive's review; Consolidated Profit and Loss Account;
Consolidated Balance Sheet; Consolidated Cash Flow Statement; Notes to the
Interim Accounts.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REVIEW
The results for the first half of this year show a marked improvement on last
year with all trading ratios moving significantly in the right direction.
Degradable sales were £1.58m for the period compared to £1.03m for the same
period last year and £2.1m for the whole of 2001. Non-degradable sales of £0.80m
for the period continued to fall, as anticipated, down 18% from the same period
in 2001 (2001 H1: £0.99m). The fall in non-degradable sales was primarily due to
non-renewal of low profit business.
Gross margins increased by 37%, with SPI-Tek / d2w(TM) margins increasing by 9%
to 26.4% and non-degradable by 58% to 22.3%. Group gross profits increased by
62% to £478,000 (2001 H1: £295,000) and operating losses were reduced to
£574,000 from £744,000. Net operational cash outflow also reduced significantly
from £724,000 in the first half of 2001 to £441,000 for the six months to 30
June 2002.
Sales developments during the period included, amongst others, a contract with
Nisa Today and an increase in Local Authority clients from 41 to 52 including
West Mercia, Bedfordshire and Brentwood. Contract extensions for non-degradable
products were received from Devon County Supplies and Orkney. Additional
developments included a commercial agreement with Ciba Speciality Chemicals and
the setting up of a new distributorship in Iceland.
Symphony Bin Hilal Plastics Llc has made progress with production capacity
increasing during the period from 55 to 165 tonnes per month and will continue
to rise. For the first time sales were generated in the region on various
product lines, sourced from the facility or imported via the UK.
Board Appointments
In June Allan Blacher was appointed to the Board as Chief Operating Officer.
During his brief time at Symphony Allan has fitted in extremely well and is now
an invaluable member of the team.
Outlook
Since the 30th June, Symphony has entered the most exciting period of its
history. During the past few months, Symphony has gained around 12% market
share of the UK grocery carrier bag market through the winning of high profile
contracts with Co-operative Retail and the Somerfield/Kwik Save supermarket
chains. Product delivery for these new contracts is expected to commence during
the last quarter of 2002. Our retail sales team continue to negotiate with
several of the major retailers on both carrier bag supplies and consumer retail
products. Continued progress is being made with the Local Authority business.
The recent contract for the largest Local Authority in the UK, Greater
Manchester, being of particular note.
Internationally, Symphony announced in July the formation of Symphony
Environmental Caribbean Inc (SECI) and the award to Loramark Marketing Inc. of a
Barbados $500,000 contract with Super Centre, the island's largest supermarket
group. As non-degradable plastic products incur an additional import tax of 60%,
we believe that degradable product sales are well placed to grow substantially.
The problem of plastic waste is gaining prominence on the environmental agenda.
This is evidenced by the banning of polythene bags in Bangladesh and Taiwan, and
the introduction of a bag tax in Ireland. Similar developments are being
discussed in the UK. There has also been progress on the recognition of
degradable plastic as a solution to the ever increasing problems of the disposal
of plastic waste, and we welcome the higher profile that this is attracting
internationally.
The Board remains confident of its future prospects and I look forward to
reporting further in the 2002 annual report.
WIBDECO CONTRACT
Symphony, through its wholly owned subsidiary Symphony Environmental, has today
confirmed its first order to supply the WIBDECO operations in St. Lucia with
degradable banana tree-sleeving. Subject to the success of this trial, WIBDECO
is planning to replace all their non-degradable tree-bags with the recently
re-branded d2w(TM) totally degradable plastic.
Michael Laurier
Chief Executive
CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT
For the six months ended 30 June 2002
Six months Year Six months
to ended to
30 June 31 December 30 June
2002 2001 2001
£'000 £'000 £'000
Turnover 2,384 3,849 2,015
Cost of sales (1,906) (3,246) (1,720)
Gross profit 478 603 295
Distribution costs (77) (147) (59)
Administrative expenses (967) (1,915) (980)
Operating loss (566) (1,459) (744)
Net interest (8) (84) (29)
Loss on ordinary activities before taxation (574) (1,543) (773)
Tax on loss on ordinary activities - - -
Loss for the financial year transferred from (574) (1,543) (773)
reserves
Basic and diluted earnings per share in pence (1.86)p (6.56)p (3.41)p
There were no recognised gains or losses other than the loss for the period.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
As at 30 June 2002
30 June 31 December 30 June
2002 2001 2001
£'000 £'000 £'000
Fixed assets
Intangible assets 1,621 1,681 1,661
Tangible assets 188 184 192
Investments 16 16 16
1,825 1,881 1,869
Current assets
Stock 477 637 407
Debtors 1,331 1,142 1,445
Cash at bank and in hand 106 466 -
1,914 2,245 1,852
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (1,013) (809) (1,320)
Net current assets 901 1,436 532
Total assets less current liabilities 2,726 3,317 2,401
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year (20) (44) (69)
2,706 3,273 2,332
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital 308 307 232
Share premium account 6,082 6,076 4,440
Other reserves 823 823 823
Profit and loss account (4,507) (3,933) (3,163)
2,706 3,273 2,332
CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT
For the six months ended 30 June 2002
Six months Year Six months
to ended to
30 June 31 December 30 June
2002 2001 2001
£'000 £'000 £'000
Net cash outflow from operating activities (see below) (441) (1,384) (724)
Returns on investments and servicing of finance
Interest received 1 - -
Interest paid (3) (70) (20)
Finance lease interest paid (6) (14) (5)
Net cash outflow from returns on investments and (8) (84) (25)
servicing of finance
Capital expenditure and financial investment
Purchase of intangible fixed assets - (43) -
Purchase of tangible fixed assets (20) (12) (31)
Purchase of investments - - -
Net cash outflow from capital expenditure and financial (20) (55) (31)
investment
Financing
Issues of shares 7 2,624 350
Receipts from borrowings - 52 277
Repayment of borrowings - - -
Capital element of finance lease rentals (21) (41) (4)
Expenses paid in connection with issue of shares - (571) (8)
Net cash (outflow)/inflow from financing (14) 2,064 615
(Decrease)/increase in cash (483) 541 (165)
Net cash outflow from operating activities
£'000 £'000 £'000
Operating loss (566) (1,459) (744)
Depreciation and amortisation 77 151 116
Decrease/(increase) in stocks 160 (182) 48
(Increase)/decrease in debtors (180) 216 (86)
Increase/(decrease) in creditors 68 (110) (58)
Net cash outflow from operating activities (441) (1,384) (724)
NOTES TO THE INTERIM ACCOUNTS
1 BASIS OF PREPARATION
The interim financial statements have been prepared on the basis of the
accounting policies set out on pages 10 and 11 of the 2001 Annual Report, and
are unaudited. The comparative figures for the year ended 31 December 2001 have
been extracted from the group's latest published accounts which contain an
unqualified audit report and which have been filed with the Registrar of
Companies.
2 LOSS PER SHARE
The calculation of basic loss per share is based on a loss for the period
divided by the weighted average number of shares in issue during the period of
30,773,691(2001 FY 23,530,676; 2001 H1: 22,649,128).
This information is provided by RNS
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