Ironveld Regulatory News (IRON)

HIGHLIGHTS

Mercury Recycling PLC, the AIM listed recycler of fluorescent light tubes and sodium street lamps together with other mercury contaminated waste, announces its final results for the year ended 31s December 2009.

·;

A fall in sales of 9% to £2.789m against a difficult trading background caused by the recession, where manufacturers of new lamps have seen a 30% decline in sales.

·;

Despite this, the Group remained profitable with pretax profits of £333,000 (2008- £534,000). Basic earnings per share were 0.83p (2008- 1.2p)

·;

The balance sheet remains sound with net debt of £0.36m less than 7% of shareholders' funds.

·;

The Group is examining interesting opportunities presented by the 2010 Battery directive as well as recycling LCD screens.

·;

Trading in the early part of the current year was affected by the adverse January weather, but since then activity has steadily improved.

Commenting on the results, the Chairman, The Rt Hon The Lord Barnett stated

'Your directors are quite satisfied with the performance of the Company and, as new lamp and tube sales recover, then the benefits will come through to the Company taking up our spare capacity.'

ENQUIRIES:

Mercury Recycling Group PLC

Bryan Neill, Managing Director

0161 877 0977

Smith & Williamson Corporate Finance Limited

Nick Reeve, Director Corporate Finance

0117 376 2213

Barrie Newton, Director Corporate Finance

0117 376 2213

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

In my Interim Statement, I reported that our second half results were likely to reflect the continuing problems of the recession. This did indeed happen, and our sales for the year ended 31 December 2009, were down from £3,074,000 to £2,789,000. The squeeze on prices and margins also had an impact on our operating profits, which were down from £558,000 to £343,000.

The last year or so has not been easy for business generally and the economic downturn has even taken its toll on the lamp and tube manufacturers which have seen their sales fall by some 30%. This has obviously had an impact on our figures and, as can be seen, our revenues and profits have dropped as a result. Nevertheless, your Directors are quite satisfied with the performance of the Group and are confident that, as new lamp and tube sales recover, the benefits will come through to the Group, taking up our spare capacity.

Undoubtedly, the industry will benefit from the recent WEEE Directive, but there needs to be more public awareness of the necessity to recycle hazardous tubes and lamps, so that the disappointingly low recycling numbers can be improved. This will surely come, but it would be helpful if the authorities took a much more aggressive stance in making this happen.

The Group has considered many aspects of diversification including battery and LCD display recycling, which are both growing areas and which also are complementary to our existing operations. Given the advent of the new Battery Directive in 2010, we are looking at ways to increase our battery collection, sorting, and recycling service. We are also involved in research into the automated processing of mercury lamp containing LCD screens, where we continue to investigate this important opportunity.

In the current year, trading volumes were of course affected in January by the serious weather conditions which meant our vehicles were unable to function as usual. Since then trade has shown a good improvement.

As will be seen from the Balance Sheet, the overdraft remains small, and would have been much improved were it not for capital improvements that had to be made.

A dividend would not be appropriate at the current time, but I do however expect the cash flow to be positive in the current year, and the Board would then have in mind to re-examine the dividend issue.

We look forward to the future with confidence. This is a growing sector, driven by legislation and we are well positioned to take advantage of the recovery.

Once again, I would like to thank all our staff for their commitment and diligence during the last year.

Yours sincerely,

The Rt Hon The Lord Barnett JP PC

Chairman

CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT

2009

2008

Note

£000

£000

Revenue

2

2,789

3,074

Cost of sales

(163)

(170)

Gross profit

2,626

2,904

Administrative expenses

(2,283)

(2,346)

Group operating profit

3

343

558

Investment revenues

-

11

Finance costs

(10)

(35)

Profit on ordinary activities before

taxation

333

534

Taxation

(53)

(130)

Profit on ordinary activities after

taxation retained for the year

280

404

Earnings per share

- Basic

4

0.83p

1.20p

- Diluted

4

0.82p

1.19p

The income statement has been prepared on the basis that all operations are continuing operations.

There is no difference between the results as disclosed above and the results on an historical cost basis.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

2009

2008

Note

£000

£000

Non-current assets

Goodwill

4,122

4,122

Property, plant and equipment

1,509

1,358

5,631

5,480

Current assets

Trade and other receivables

471

536

Cash and cash equivalents

1

38

Current tax assets

10

-

Assets held for sale

-

5

482

579

Total assets

6,113

6,059

Current liabilities

Trade and other payables

(249)

(338)

Bank overdrafts and loans

(139)

(153)

Obligations under finance leases

-

(17)

Current tax liabilities

(39)

(140)

(427)

(648)

Non-current liabilities

Trade and other payables

(42)

(51)

Bank loans

(225)

(274)

Deferred tax liabilities

(146)

(121)

(413)

(446)

Total liabilities

(840)

(1,094)

Net assets

5,273

4,965

Equity

Share capital

3,403

3,375

Share premium

242

242

Other reserve

365

365

Retained earnings reserve

1,263

983

Total equity

5,273

4,965

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY

Share

Share

Other

Retained

Total

Capital

Premium

Reserve

Earnings

Equity

£000

£000

£000

£000

£000

Balance at 1 January 2008

3,373

242

365

579

4,559

Profit for the period 

-

-

-

404

404

Issue of share capital

2

-

-

-

2

Balance at 31 December 2008

3,375

242

365

983

4,965

Profit for the period 

-

-

-

280

280

Issue of share capital

28

-

-

-

28

Balance at 31 December 2009

3,403

242

365

1,263

5,273

CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT

2009

2008

Note

£000

£000

Net cash from operating activities

395

965

Investing activities

Interest received

-

11

Proceeds on disposal of property, plant and equipment

14

18

Purchases of property, plant and equipment

(393)

(400)

Acquisition of businesses

-

(1,206)

Cash acquired with businesses

-

229

Net cash used in investing activities

(379)

(1,348)

Financing activities

Proceeds on issue of shares

28

2

New bank loans raised

100

-

Repayment of borrowings

(145)

(42)

Repayments of finance lease obligations

(17)

(7)

Net cash used in financing activities

(34)

(47)

Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents

(19)

(430)

Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of year

(51)

379

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year

(70)

(51)

NOTES

1 Basis of preparation

The information in this announcement has been extracted from the Company's audited Financial Statements which have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs). The Financial Statements have also been prepared in accordance with IFRSs adopted by the European Union and therefore the Group Financial Statements comply with Article 4 of the EU IAS Regulation.

The financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis.

2 Revenue

The revenue and profit on ordinary activities before taxation arise from the Group's principal activity.

The Group's revenue has been analysed by geographic area as follows:

2009

2008

£000

£000

United Kingdom

2,789

3,064

Republic of Ireland

-

10

2,789

3,074

3 Operating profit

2009

2008

Profit for the year is shown after charging / (crediting):

£000

£000

Depreciation on tangible assets

229

186

Amortisation

-

1

Research and development

34

47

Government grants

(9)

(9)

Profit on disposal of tangible assets

4

8

4 Earnings per share

Basic - The calculation of basic earnings per share is based on a profit of £280,000 (2008 - £404,000) and on 33,891,087 (2008 - 33,731,179) ordinary shares, being the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the year.

Diluted - The diluted earnings per share is based on the profit for the year of £280,000 (2008 - £404,000) and on 34,098,675 (2008 - 33,944,364) ordinary shares as adjusted for share options below:

2009

2008

Number

Number

Basic weighted average number of shares

33,891,087

33,731,179

Dilutive potential ordinary shares:

Dilution caused by options

207,588

213,185

Diluted weighted average number

34,098,675

33,944,364

5 Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of Mercury Recycling Group plc ("the Company") will be held at Mercury House, 17 Commerce Way, Trafford Park, Manchester M17 1HW on 21st May 2010, at 10.30 a.m.

6 Posting of Financial Statements

The Company's Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2009 are being posted to shareholders today and will be available for download from the Company's website at www.mercuryrecycling.co.uk