PURE.L Regulatory News (PURE)

PureCircle Limited

Trading Update

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 2, 2017 - PureCircle (LSE: PURE), the world's leading producer and innovator of great-tasting stevia sweeteners for the global beverage and food industry, today provides an update on trading.

On 30 January 2017, the Withhold Release Order placed on the Company's shipments to the US was removed following a comprehensive investigation by the US Customs and Border Protection ('CBP'). While we were pleased to report that shipments to the USA had resumed, the rebuilding of trade to previous levels has been slower than we had anticipated and cautioned to investors. This is primarily due to the eight month absence in the US market of unique PureCircle ingredients which deliver superior taste and calorie reduction and which were therefore central to delays in customer new product launches. The resumption of trade occurred post the key innovation cycle planning period of our customers, hence these new product launches have been rescheduled to later dates in order to coincide with their commercial and marketing plans. As a result of this interruption PureCircle now believes that revenue for the year ended June 30th 2017 will be materially below market expectations.

Despite this setback global demand for stevia products continues to accelerate and the PureCircle pipeline of demand is strong. In particular sales to Europe and South America have significantly increased. Globally the number of brands now using PureCircle products has increased by 18% year on year as health awareness increasingly informs consumer choice. The company continues to strengthen its market leadership in the development of new, better tasting stevia products.

Commenting, the Group CEO Magomet Malsagov said

"I am of course, very disappointed that the growth of PureCircle has been adversely affected this year by the CBP Withhold Release Order, which was beyond our control. Nevertheless, we remain highly confident in the future growth of both PureCircle and the stevia market. We have continued to develop our newer and more innovative varieties of stevia sweeteners and we have not lost time in intensifying our stevia research and development and broadening our patent protection, alongside our capacity expansion.

"In the current stevia market, we uniquely have the agricultural infrastructure to scale up and produce stevia at significant commercial levels to supply our customers,and have the research, development and innovation capabilities to produce the most advanced varieties of stevia sweeteners. These differentiating factors, together with the skill and commitment of our people, provide great confidence that we will accelerate the recovery of our US business, and build on the current strong growth in the rest of our global markets."

The Company will announce its results for the year ended 30 June 2017 on 19 September 2017.

- Ends -

Notes to Editors

About PureCircle

· PureCircle is the only company that combines advanced R&D with full vertical integration from farm to high-quality innovative stevia sweeteners.

· The Company collaborates with farmers who grow the stevia plants and with food and beverage companies which seek to improve their low- and no-calorie formulations using a sweetener from plants.

· PureCircle will continue to: lead in research, development and innovation; produce a growing supply of multiple varieties of stevia sweeteners using all necessary and appropriate methods of production; and be a resource and innovation partner for food and beverage companies.

· Founded in 2002, PureCircle is continually investing in breakthrough research and development and it currently has 69 stevia-related approved patents and 200 pending.

· PureCircle has offices around the world with the global headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

· PureCircle's shares are listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.

· For more information, visit: www.purecircle.com.

About stevia

· Given the growing global concerns about obesity and diabetes, beverage and food companies are working responsibly to reduce sugar and calories in their products, responding to both consumers and health and wellness advocates. Sweeteners from the stevia plant are becoming an increasingly important tool for these companies.

· Stevia sweeteners provide clean, sugar-like taste. Like sugar, stevia sweeteners are from plants. But unlike sugar, they enable low-calorie and zero-calorie formulations of beverages and foods.

· Stevia leaf extract is a natural-based, zero calorie, high-intensity sweetener, used by global food and beverage companies as a zero-calorie alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners.

· Stevia is a naturally sweet plant native to South America; today, it is grown around the world, notably in Kenya, China and the US.

· The sweet-tasting parts of the stevia leaf are up to 400 times sweeter than sugar: stevia's high-intensity sweetness means it requires far less water and land than sugar.

· Research has shown that the molecules of the stevia leaf are present and unchanged in the dried stevia leaf, through the commercial extraction and purification process, and in the final stevia leaf extract product. All major global regulatory organisations, across 65 countries, have approved the use of high-purity stevia leaf extracts in food and beverages.

· For more information on the science of stevia, please visit http://globalsteviainstitute.com/