update21 Nov 2013 15:04
Chairman's Statement
Since I last reported, Plant Impact plc ("Plant Impact, the "Company" and together with its subsidiaries, the "Group") has made good progress with all elements of its strategy. The intent of the Board which I described then, was to focus the Group towards sales in high value horticultural crops close to home, to secure a first move into broad acre crops in partnership with an agrochemical major in Brazilian soy and to secure distribution for our turf (golf) product in the USA. All of these have been accomplished. A new product for high-value tree fruit launched in the UK and Holland (Amētros) was well received by growers in its first year. We were delighted to secure a significant partnership programme with Bayer CropScience to launch Veritas in the vast Cerrados soy area in Brazil (which is described in a separate Q1 2014 trading update also released today), and we made our first trial sales into US golf in preparation for a launch in 2014. These are all exciting foundation achievements, exemplifying management's ability to deliver to strategy.
Our balance sheet was strengthened in May 2013 by the repayment of an outstanding development loan to Arysta LifeScience Corporation ("Arysta") of £652,276. Plant Impact is now debt free. In the period, the Company raised equity capital of £2,368,588, primarily to fund its expansion into Brazil and the launch of new products into European markets.
Less satisfactory were the European sales for the sixteen month transition period. In our May trading update, we highlighted our objective to achieve break-even operating income and cash flow in the six month trading period ended 31 July 2013. We did not achieve that. The business over that reporting period relied primarily on the Northern European sector, specifically our markets in the United Kingdom, Benelux, France and Germany. Each were challenged by high in-market stocks of our products which we expected distribution to sell out and then re-order. The very cold and prolonged spring coupled with a hot dry summer deterred growers from investing in new products and so farmer usage did not pull through enough distributor carry-over stock to trigger re-ordering. However, the decline in sales into the channel masked a small increase in farmer usage year-on-year. Furthermore, management made impressive progress broadening and deepening awareness of the performance of Plant Impact products at the grower level. This is an accumulating asset that we expect will be converted into sales in the coming seasons.
I am delighted by the quality of staff now committed to Plant Impact and their achievements this year. Further, I should like to thank you, our shareholders, for the support you have given Plant Impact in the last year and for your interest in the Company. It was a pleasure to have a 'full house' at our mid-summer investors' day in Rothamsted. It was ou
Sign In
Follow the stocks
