Interim Results for the six months ended 31 Dec 11

PureCircle Limited

("PureCircle" or "the Company")

Interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2011

PureCircle (LSE: PURE) the world's largest producer and marketer of high purity stevia today announces its unaudited interim results for the six month period from 1 July 2011 to 31 December 2011 ("H1 FY 2012").

The unaudited financial statements comprising profit and loss account and cashflow for the six months to 31 December 2011 and the balance sheet at 31 December 2011 are set out in page 5 to 21 to this announcement, together with unaudited profit and loss and cashflow comparatives for the six months to 31 December 2010 ("H1 FY 2011") and the audited balance sheet at 30 June 2011.

SUMMARY FINANCIALS

*EBITDA and exceptional cost information is set out in the segmental analysis in note 8

Sales: H1 FY 12 sales of $15.2m were in line with expectations and $1.6m (11%) higher than prior year. As expected there were no sales to the Company's Global Beverage Key Accounts (GBKA's) in H1, as they continue to use existing inventories. All our new products Natural Flavors and new natural sweeteners launched in Calendar Year 2011 (CY 2011) performed strongly and together contributed $6m (39%) of the total sales.

Sales breakdown:

Gross Profit: H1 FY12 gross profit of $1.7m is $0.8m (88%) ahead of H1 FY 11. This reflects diversification and mix of sales with new products and improved variable contributions. However absolute gross profit margin % is below the Group's long term business model due to low production capacity utilization.

Exceptional costs: As was previously announced, having successfully scaled production across CY 2009 and CY 2010, since January 2011 the Group has temporarily slowed down production of Reb A until inventories are better aligned with market demand. As a result in H1 FY 12 the Group has charged $6.3m net of production overhead and related costs to profit that would ordinarily have been charged to inventory production.

Inventories: inventories reduced $9m from 30 June 2011 and at $87m are now $26m (23%) lower than their peak at 31 December 2010. Management expects them to reduce further across the next twelve months.

Cash and net debt: The Group ended H1 FY 12 with gross cash of $27m and net debt of $71m. Net debt is the same as at 30 June 2011 and $6m lower than at 31 December 2010 ($77m), confirming that the Group has been a net cash generator across CY 2011, despite the exceptional costs. At 31 December 2011 the Group had $60m of cash and facility headroom (31 December 2010: $50m) and is adequately funded to meet all its current plans.

Balance sheet: the Group's balance sheet reflects fully invested production capacity that can support volumes equivalent to more than $250m sales.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS

Supply Chain: Although we reduced Reb A production temporarily, our supply chain has been busy with new products. Our production teams have been successful in scaling production of these new products. Our leaf growing regions both in Kenya and Paraguay are progressing well. The supply chain is robust and in place to support sales in excess of $250m as the market matures.

Regulatory: the EU market secured regulatory clearance in December 2011 thereby opening up the world's largest sweetener market to high purity stevia. Continued regulatory progress in other regions means that all principal markets in the world are expected to be open by the end of CY 2012.

Market adoption: the number of Food and Beverage products and the range of product categories using high purity stevia as a sweetening ingredient or flavor continue to increase in all markets. This includes the important Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) market where we have seen major CSD household brands beginning to adopt stevia as their sweetening option worldwide. As expected, early launches in the EU since approval are more numerous and cover more companies than was seen when the USA market first opened.

Consumer demand: Nielsen and other market data shows consumption of high purity stevia based products increasing in all categories. Higher demand is backed up by strong growth in awareness of stevia in all major markets. In France for example awareness has increased 20% across the last twelve months.

PureCircle product portfolio: during CY 2011 PureCircle launched a range of new products designed in close consultation with clients and meeting specific market needs, both as natural sweeteners and flavors. Each of the products has been well received, particularly the natural flavors that have been adopted into two billion dollar brands in USA within six months of the launch. Taken together they provide our customers with a flexible formulation tool kit across major price and calorie reduction points. For PureCircle they will provide a well balanced revenue portfolio going forward.

Application support: we continue to expand our application support capabilities through our Oak Brook, Illinois Application Center. Our uniquely deep knowledge of formulating with high purity stevia is being recognized increasingly in the market with more and more customers now working actively on projects with our application specialists.

Everything Stevia: our inaugural Everything Stevia conference was held in London in November and attracted more than a hundred delegates from major EMEA Food and Beverage companies. Everything Stevia is now being rolled out across Europe with events already held in Spain and Italy and more planned.

Customer base: we continue to secure more customers and to build repeat business. Most customers are still at relatively early development stages. But, data shows underlying demand building steadily as customers' launches expand. Excluding the BGKAs, we estimate that we are working on two to three times as many projects today as a year ago and that our regular order levels are almost five times those of two years ago.

Beverage Global Key Accounts (BGKAs): we have highlighted previously that the BGKAs will be the largest long term users of high purity stevia but that whilst they work through their existing stevia inventories, their current demand will be low. This has been the case in H1 FY 12. Whilst their existing product usage is growing particularly with high purity stevia now being adopted into major CSD brands and whilst we expect to see a series of new launches in CY 12, in the EU, Asia and Latin America, we do not expect any significant BGKA demand in FY12. We believe significant BGKA demand will now only kick in from CY 2013 and CY 2014.

Joint Ventures: activity levels in both our Joint Ventures (JVs) with Tereos (TPCS) and Nordzucker (NPS) have accelerated sharply with the opening of the EU. Both have rapidly expanding project pipelines and a growing list of customer launches across many EU countries. Our USA JV, NSV, is working to develop both a retail Table-top offer and an industrial B2B business. The JVs will make an initial sales contribution in FY 12, but reflecting the project roll-out timings, it will be FY 13 and FY 14 before their sales are material.

Partners: PureCircle has a first class suite of flavor, formulation and distribution partners, including Firmenich, Dohler and Prinova. Across H1 FY 12 all our partners have seen sharp increases in project activity and growing customer demand pipelines. As these roll-out they will provide strong additional sales, but it is expected to be FY 13 and FY 14 before these are material.

Outlook:

With the opening of the important EU market and continued growth in usage across all regions and Food and Beverage categories including major CSD brands we remain confident of the long term future of high purity stevia. The success of our expanded product portfolio and our continued customer acquisition supports our confidence in PureCircle's leading role in that future.

We do not however expect to see rapid sales growth until CY 2013 and CY 2014 when the combination of EU approval, the launches of major stevia sweetened CSDs and the unwinding of BGKA's inventories take fuller effect.

Our business model is sensitive to sales volumes. Whilst sales remain modest relative to our supply chain capacity, our margins too will remain substantially below those of our long term business model.

Looking at FY12, we expect H2 to show much stronger revenues than H1. However with BGKA demand tracking later than expected this is likely to impact FY 13 and FY 14 revenues not FY 12. Accordingly our sales guidance for H2 FY12 is in the range of $30m to $50m.

Paul Selway-Swift Magomet Malsagov

Chairman Chief Executive

"CY 2011 has been a challenging year with PureCircle sales not reflecting the underlying strong growth in the global high purity stevia market, which accelerated further in December 2011 with the opening of the important EU market. We have a highly scaled business that leaves our results sensitive to sales volumes.

Across CY 2011 we have seen continued progress of high purity stevia becoming a natural sweetener of choice across more categories, companies and countries. CY 2011 has also seen the early but strong market adoption of our proprietary natural flavor products.

CY 2012 has started well with early evidence of the adoption of high purity stevia by the important carbonated soft drink (CSD) category.

As we mentioned in our Outlook, we remain confident of the long term future of high purity stevia and of our business. But it will be CY 2013 and CY 2014 before the strong sales growth is apparent."

NOTES TO EDITORS

PureCircle is the global leader in the production of high purity Stevia sweeteners and natural flavors. PureCircle is leading the industry with the development of a sustainable, vertically integrated supply chain operating in four continents. Across these regions, PureCircle sources dry stevia leaves, undertakes extraction processes and refines the extract into sweeteners which it markets as a mainstream ingredient to Food and Beverage manufacturers worldwide. PureCircle provides a sustainable cash crop for rural farming communities in each region and works closely with these communities to maximize the social, economic, and environmental benefits of its operations. PureCircle's investment in research and development has given it a leadership position in the Stevia industry and its scientists are globally recognized experts in their field. PureCircle has pioneered the industry trust mark "Stevia PureCircle" that educates consumers about the benefits of Stevia and provides a strong base of trust for both consumers and Food & Beverage companies alike. PureCircle also funds the Global Stevia Institute (globalsteviainstitute.com) which provides a global platform for stevia education and outreach, led by internationally recognized health professionals. PureCircle's corporate offices are located in Chicago, USA; Asuncion, Paraguay; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Ganzhou, China; Shanghai, China and Kericho, Kenya. PureCircle is listed on the London Stock Exchange AiM market under the ticker symbol: PURE. For more information on PureCircle visit: www.purecircle.com.

Condensed consolidated statement of comprehensive income

for the period ended 31 December 2011

Note: NA denotes Not Applicable.

Condensed consolidated statement of financial position

as at 31 December 2011

Condensed consolidated statement of changes in equity

as at 31 December 2011

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

as at 31 December 2010

Condensed consolidated cash flow statement for the period ended 31 December 2011

Condensed consolidated cash flow statement for the period ended 31 December 2011 (continued)

Notes to interim financial statements

1. General information

The Company was incorporated and registered as a private limited company in Bermuda, under the Companies (Bermuda) Law 1991 (as amended). The Company has its primary listing on the Alternative Investment Market (AiM) operated by the London Stock Exchange, plc.

The Company is engaged principally in the business of investment holding whilst the principal activities of the rest of the Group are the production, marketing and distribution of natural sweeteners and flavors.

The unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements have been authorised for issue by the Board of Directors on 28 March 2012.

2. Basis of preparation

The condensed consolidated interim financial statements for the six months ended 31 December 2011 have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34, "Interim financial reporting". The condensed consolidated interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Group's annual financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2011, which have been prepared in accordance with IFRSs.

3. Accounting policies

The following standards and amendments to standards are mandatory for the first time for the financial year beginning 1 July 2011.

(i) IAS 24 (revised) - Related Party Disclosures (effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2011)

(ii) Amendments to IFRIC 14 - Prepayments of a Minimum Funding Requirements (effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2011)

(iii) Improvements to IFRS 2010 - Amendments to IFRS 1, IAS 1 & IAS 7 (effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2011)

(iv) Amendments to IFRS 1- Severe Hyperinflation and removal of Fixed Dates for First-time Adopters (effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 July 2011)

(v) Amendment to IAS 12 Deferred Tax: Recovery of Underlying Assets (effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2012)

The adoption of the revisions and amendments to standards above did not have a material impact on the condensed consolidated interim financial statements for the six months ended 31 December 2011.

4. Other income

In H1 FY 12 other income represents a partial write back of a prior year provision and receipt of government development grants. In H1 FY 11 other income represented a one off settlement of an insurance claim made in financial year ended 2009.

5. Other expenses

In H1 FY 12 other expenses of USD5.7mil represent production cost and attributable overheads that would ordinarily have been charged to inventory, but due to the temporary slowing down of production have been charged to profit and loss account.

In H1 FY 11 other expenses principally comprised plant and equipment written down following a decision to reconfigure certain of the Group's fixed assets to enable the production of an enlarged product portfolio.

6. Principal risks and uncertainties

The Group set out in its 2011 Annual Report and Financial Statements the principal risks and uncertainties that could impact its performance; these remain unchanged since the Annual Report was published. The Group operates a structured risk management process, which identifies and evaluates risks and uncertainties and reviews mitigation activity.

7. Seasonality

At 31 December 2011 the Group had gross cash of USD27.1m (31 December 2010: USD30.8m) and net debt of USD70.7m (31 December 2010: USD 76.7m). Net debt is defined as short-term and long-term borrowings less cash and bank balances. The Group's sales are seasonally weighted towards the H2 of each year and net debt is expected to reduce over time as sales increase and then convert to cash. At 31 December 2011, the Group had more than USD60m cash and banking facilities headroom. The Directors believe the banking facilities to be sufficient for projected funding requirements.

8. Segmental information

Management determines the Group's operating segments based on the criteria used by the Chief Operating Decision Maker who has been identified as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for making strategic decisions. Management considers the Group to be a single operating segment whose activities are the production, marketing and distribution of natural sweeteners and flavors.

From a geographical perspective, the Group is a multinational with operations located on all continents, but managed as one unified global organization. The Group's markets and its supply chain are based in the Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia Pacific.

In the audited financial statements to 30 June 2011, the group changed the format of the segmental report so as to report more clearly underlying operating performance. In particular the Group adopted the three column approach to identify separately the impact of the exceptional costs. The three column approach has been continued for H1 FY 12 but comparatives for H1 FY 11 are shown as originally reported in a one column format.

Geographical information

The primary performance indicators used by the Group are revenues, gross margin, adjusted EBITDA, net cash from operations, gross cash, gross borrowings and net debt.

Gross margin is calculated as the gross profit reported on the face of the profit and loss account, adjusted for the effect of the economic hedges against the Group's production operations. EBITDA is calculated as net profit for the year reported on the face of the profit and loss account, adjusted for interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization and foreign exchange hedging.

Adjusted EBITDA is calculated as EBITDA adjusted for the non cash items of share based payments and fair value gain/(loss) on biological assets.

The entity is domiciled in Bermuda. The entity's non-current assets are located in countries other than Bermuda. There is no revenue from Bermuda.

9. Property, plant and equipment and intangible assets

During the period, the Group invested USD0.8 million in property, plant and equipment.

The addition to intangible assets is in respect of capitalisation of project developments during the period.

10. Inventories

11. Biological assets

During the period under review, the Group harvested 205 tonnes of stevia leaves which carried fair value less estimated point-of-sales costs of USD206,000.

At 31 December 2011, stevia leaves comprised approximately 570 hectares stevia leaves plantations which are immature in Kenya and Paraguay.

12. Borrowings

During the period, the Group drew down a bank loan amounting to USD6.5 million at an interest rate of 7.89% per annum. The proceeds were used to meet working capital. Repayments of bank loans amounting to USD18.1 million were made in line with previously disclosed repayment terms. The weaker Ringgit Malaysia against United States Dollar during the period resulted in decreased in carrying amount of borrowings amounting to USD4.6 million.

13. Income taxes

Income tax expense is recognised based on management's best estimate of the weighted average annual income tax rate expected for the full financial year. The Group has no estimated assessable profit. Deferred tax assets amounting to USD2,605,000 were recognized in the period.

The Company was granted a tax assurance certificate dated 18 August 2007 under the Exempted Undertakings Tax Protection Act 1966 pursuant to which it is exempted from any Bermuda taxes (other than local property taxes) until 28 March 2016. Subsequent to the six months period ended 31 December 2011, a tax assurance certificate dated 1st February 2012 was received that the Company tax exemption was extended to 31st March 2035 following the enactment of the Exempted Undertakings Tax Protection Amendment Act 2011.

A subsidiary of the Group, PureCircle Sdn Bhd (PCSB), has been granted the Bio-Nexus Status by the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation Sdn Bhd in which PCSB is entitled to a 100% income tax exemption for a period of 10 years on its first statutory income commencing in 2009. Upon the expiry of the 10-year incentive period, PCSB will be entitled to a concessionary tax rate of 20% on income derived from qualifying activities for a further period of 10 years. As at 31 December 2011, PCSB has not utilised its tax exemption.

Another subsidiary of the Group, PureCircle (Jiangxi) Co. Ltd. (PCJX), has also been granted a 100% exemption on corporate tax from 1 January to 31 December 2008 and 50% exemption on corporate tax from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2011. Beginning 1 January 2012, PCJX will be taxed at the normal rate of 25%.

14. Share capital and share premium

In accordance with the Company's Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) implemented for the employees, options exercised during the period to 31 December 2011 resulted in 398,948 shares being issued (31 December 2010: 477,750). In accordance with the terms and conditions of the LTIP, options were exercised without any consideration.

15. Earnings per share

The basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the loss attributable to owners of the Company by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period.

Diluted earnings per share is not applicable as the potential ordinary shares under the Company's Long Term Incentive Plan would have an anti dilutive effect.

16. Dividends

No dividends were declared or paid by the Company during the interim period.

17. Contingent liabilities and capital commitments

At the end of the period, there are no material contingent liabilities which, upon becoming enforceable, may have a material impact on the financial position of the Group.

Capital commitments amounting to approximately USD1,860,000 is approved and contracted for, these are incurred for the purchase of land and upgrading of plant and machinery in Malaysia and China.

18. Events after the end of the reporting period

There were no events that had a material impact to the condensed consolidated interim financial statements after the end of the reporting period.

19. Significant related party transactions

(a) Identities of related parties:

The Group and / or the Company have related party relationships with:

(i) its subsidiaries and joint ventures;

(ii) the directors who are the key management personnel; and

(iii) companies in which certain directors are common directors and / or substantial shareholders.

The following transactions were carried out by the Group during the period:

(b) Related parties

(i) Related Parties

(ii) Key Management Personnel

Key management includes executive and non-executive directors. The compensation paid or payable to key management for employee services is shown as below:

The interests of the Directors as at 31 December 2011 were as follows:-

(iii) Balances with related parties

20. Changes in Composition of the Group

On 23 August 2011, a wholly owned subsidiary, PureCircle (UK) Limited was incorporated and its principal activities are sales and marketing of natural sweeteners and flavors.

On 31 August 2011, the Company incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary, PureCircle China Agriculture Development Co., Ltd with principal activities in trading of stevia leaf and development of stevia leaf varieties.

Independent review report to PureCircle Limited

PureCircle Limited

(Incorporated in Bermuda)

Registration No.: 40431

Introduction