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(Alliance News) - Symphony Environmental Technologies PLC on Tuesday turned to a loss for 2019, but expressed confidence in its performance through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Shares in the company - which develops additives to make ordinary plastic biodegradable - were trading 6.2% lower at 14.77 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.
For 2019, Symphony Environmental posted a pretax loss of GBP697,000, swinging from GBP38,000 profit reported for 2018. Revenue was GBP8.2 million, down 6.8% from GBP8.8 million.
The hit to sales was attributed to inventory adjustments made by some of the company's customers due to legislative clarification in some markets regarding the manufacture of plastics.
Administrative costs for 2019 increased to GBP4.1 million from GBP3.9 million due to increased selling resource, as well as advisory costs associated with the same legislative and regulatory situations which hurt revenue.
Turning to the first quarter of 2020, the Hertfordshire-based company said that revenue rose 53% to GBP2.5 million, adding that it business has not been hurt by the Covid-19 pandemic. It noted that the emergence of the pandemic has resulted in single use plastic bans outside the EU being postponed or overturned due to concern for people's safety and hygiene.
Looking ahead, Symphony Environmental said it believes performance could improve as single-use plastics are being used more commonly for food and human protection amid the pandemic.
"Despite current global uncertainties, we are confident that our technologies are well placed to benefit key concerns over hygiene and the environment. Many countries around the world are starting to ease their lockdowns, but we continue to make decisions which aim to keep the group in the best financial position possible should there be any significant negative effects on revenue or cashflow," said Interim Chair Nicolas Clavel.
The company said as at last Thursday, it had available cash of over GBP1.0 million, adding that it does not expect to need any additional cash in the next 12 months.
By Ife Taiwo; ifetaiwo@alliancenews.com
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