Losses narrow for Symphony Environmental as EU legal action looms

Plastic and rubber sustainability technology company Symphony Environmental Technologies reported group revenues of £9.77m in its preliminary results on Wednesday, up from £8.22m year-on-year, with increases across all of its primary product areas.

The AIM-traded firm said gross profit for the year ended 31 December totalled £4.11m, up from £3.78m in 2019, while its reported loss before tax narrowed to £0.44m from £0.7m.

Basic losses per share came in at 0.19p, compared to 0.41p a year earlier.

Cash used in operations was £1.44m for the year, rising from £0.73m in 2019, while net current assets stood at £3.63m at year-end, growing from £2.85m.

On the operational front, Symphony’s ‘d2p’ antibacterial technology was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for bread packaging during the year, while d2p antimicrobial was proven by an independent laboratory to kill coronavirus within one hour of contact.

Its d2p ‘SYMFresh’ food preservation technology was launched with a major South African retailer, while the company also launched legal action against the European Union for “substantial” damages.

The company appointed a new head of sales and a new head of procurement during the second half, to accelerate revenues, as it also “enhanced” its spending to improve sales in key territories in Latin America.

Since the year ended, the company had appointed three new sales professionals, and said that in its European scientific study, biodegradation was proved “beyond doubt” in the marine environment, being non-toxic to marine creatures.

“Revenue growth was led by our strategic decision to grow finished products - primarily personal protective equipment (PPE) gloves - with year-on-year growth of 200%, and d2p masterbatch, with year-on-year growth of 88%,” said interim chairman Nicolas Clavel.

“d2w growth was limited to 2% as some of Symphony's distributors experienced continued severe Covid-19 lockdowns.

“To accelerate this strategy, a new head of sales and new head of procurement were appointed during the second half of 2020, [and] three further new sales professionals have so far been employed at the start of 2021.”

On the company’s legal action against the European Union, Clavel said the company believed that the EU's ban on so-called ‘oxo-degradable’ plastic had caused “unwarranted confusion” about the efficacy of its d2w ‘oxo-biodegradable’ masterbatch.

“More importantly, this confusion has denied the opportunity for European consumers and businesses to utilise one of the most effective and economic technologies to address the problem of plastic pollution on land and at sea.

“The EU institutions have until 14 April to serve their defences.”

At 1146 BST, shares in Symphony Environmental Technologies were up 15.14% at 18.71p.