4th Sep 2015 07:09
LONDON (Alliance News) - Plant Impact PLC Friday said that revenue in its recently-ended financial year "increased substantially" while it expects to report a profit after tax ahead of market expectations.
The agricultural bioscience company, which develops crop enhancement and specialty nutrition products, said that revenue in the year ended July 31 rose to GBP4.5 million from GBP2.5 million, in line with market expectations as sales in the fourth quarter grew to GBP1.4 million from GBP0.8 million.
Plant Impact said that its Brazil business continued to grow strongly, led by its flagship soybean foliar spray Veritas, which offset a poorer performance in the smaller Northern Europe business where its tree fruit product Ametros did not meet internal marketing objectives due to difficult underlying conditions for growers.
The company said that it traded profitably throughout the year, and that net profit after tax is expected to be GBP0.1 million, an improvement in the GBP0.7 million loss it made the year before, which it said is ahead of market expectations.
Plant Impact added that it has a "positive sales outlook" for the next financial year, anticipating substantial growth in Brazilian markets as Veritas continues to expand its reach to soy growers around the country, adding that it has received firm orders for most of the group's expected Veritas sales in the 2015/16 Brazilian soy season.
In Northern Europe, Plant Impact expects to see modest growth in the coming financial year following the recruitment of additional senior commercial and marketing leadership, the expansion of its distribution channels, a "reinvigorated" product offering for turf, and a selected white label product launch with a major distributor.
Middle East sales are also expected to continue to expand, as the company extends its reach to the "significant" Turkish market and sees continued growth from its important customer in Egypt, it said.
Plant Impact added that the first commercial year of its Banzai cocoa yield product is also anticipated to be successful, starting in Cameroon and the Ivory Coast.
Investment in research and development will increase in the new financial year, as the group recruits "additional scientific talent" to develop new crop enhancement products for soy and wheat, and as it initiates further field trial programmes for key pipeline projects in the Americas, Europe and West Africa, the company said.
"Financial year 2015 has been a transformational year for the group, and I am delighted to announce this trading performance. It demonstrates our continued delivery against our business strategy and highlights the capability we have established to continue to accelerate our geographic expansion, product portfolio development and sales growth," Chief Executive John Brubaker said in a statement.
"Financial year 2016 is an important year for multiple growth programmes, and we are confident that our strategy will continue to deliver for our customers and our shareholders in the coming years," he added.
Shares in Plant Impact were up 8.3% in early trade to 55.75 pence.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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