United Kingdom
March 24, 2009
Plant Heath Care
(AIM: PHC.L), a leading provider of natural products for plants
and soil, announces its results for the year ended 31 December
2008.
Financial highlights:
- Revenue up 9% to $19.9
million (2007: $18.3 million);
- Gross profit up 26% to
$10.6 million (2007: $8.4 million);
- Gross margin up to 54%
from 46% due to technology partnering revenue and increased
product sales of high margin harpin business;
- Operating loss, before
share-based payments, reduced to $3.5 million (2007: $4.8
million);
- Net loss of $4.3 million
(2007: loss of $5.4 million); and
- Cash and short-term
investments at 31 December 2008 of $7.3 million (2007: $10.8
million).
Operational highlights:
- Multi-year agreement
signed with Monsanto for the commercialisation of harpin
technology with
2008 product orders successfully fulfilled;
- Licence agreement for
use of harpin gene in brassica oilseeds signed with
Bayer CropScience;
- Myconate field trials
continued to show yield increases up to 20% as the
Company advances
discussions for a significant development agreement with
major agrichemical companies after the
termination of the Bayer CropScience collaboration
agreement;
- Harpin development and
trials confirm wide range of potential applications for
this technology.
Board Composition:
- Board of directors
has been strengthened by appointments of Dr. David
Buckeridge, Jeremy Scudamoreand Dr. Dominik
Koechlin, who will serve as non-executive directors.
Commenting on the results, Chief
Executive John Brady said: “2008 was another excellent year for
Plant Health Care. The Monsanto agreement represents the first
step towards significant commercialisation of one of our key
technologies. This agreement validates Plant Health Care’s
strategy to bring our products into large row crop acreage
through partner-type agreements, and also lends credibility to
our products in the markets we service ourselves. Whilst the
termination of the agreement with Bayer was disappointing, we
are now in discussions with a number of parties, including other
major agrichem companies, regarding collaborations to further
develop and commercialise Myconate.”
“Our product sales business continued to make significant
advances despite the turbulent economic conditions and downward
currency pressure. We are particularly pleased with our European
sales which were up 85% over the prior year. This growth was
supported by increasing harpin sales as a result of excellent
test results from key fruit and vegetable customers.”
“The strong advances made in both our technology sharing and
product sales business provide us with an excellent platform for
continued future growth. Both harpin and Myconate will continue
to be a focus and
cornerstone of future growth opportunities.”
Plant Heath Care was established in 1995 in Pittsburgh
(Pennsylvania) in the United States. Its products are aimed at
the agriculture andcommercial landscaping industries, through
both direct sales and supply and distribution agreements with
major agrichemical industry partners. Plant Health Care’s
products create both environmental and economic benefits for our
customers and capitalise upon long-term trends towards natural
systems and biological products to provide plant health and
growth. |
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