PHC.L Regulatory News (PHC)

22 Jan 2009 07:00



For release: 7am 22 January 2009

PLANT HEALTH CARE PLC

("Plant Health Care" or "the Company")

Trading Update

Plant Health Care (AIM: PHC.L), a leading provider of natural products for plants and soil, provides the following post year end update for 2008, ahead of the announcement of its Preliminary Results which is expected by early April 2009.

The Company continues to trade well and, with further sales growth and the benefit of the initial order from Monsanto Company ("Monsanto") in the second half of the year, is expecting to report a result (before share based payments) in line with market expectations. 

The cash position at 31 December was $7.3 million, a marked improvement on the $6.2 million previously estimated, as a result of tight cash management.

In December 2008, Plant Health Care announced an agreement with Monsanto for the commercialisation of its harpin technology as a seed treatment in Monsanto's major row crops (corn, cotton, soybeans and canola) and selected vegetables. As stated above, a significant order has already been received and the board believes the Monsanto agreement will make a material contribution to the Company's future revenue and profits. It is expected that in future years the Monsanto payments will mainly fall into the second half of the year and this will accentuate the current trading pattern which sees stronger revenues in the second half, reflecting the timing of orders to suit the growing seasons.

Plant Health Care announced in December the termination of its agreement with Bayer CropScience for the development of Myconate. However, the Company is continuing its discussions with several large multinational seed companies and, supported by further strong test results for this product, expects to conclude an agreement with another party during 2009.

The Board considers that 2008 has seen significant progress for Plant Health Care, in particular the transformational agreement with Monsanto, and, despite challenging conditions in the wider economy, believes that the long term drivers of Plant Health Care's core markets remain very strong.

-Ends-

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