Symphony warns on profits as orders wilt in Middle East

Shares in Symphony Environment dropped sharply on Friday after the speciality plastics company revealed that distributor orders in the Middle East, its main market, are likely to fall short of expectations.

Fluctuation of order numbers in the region is due to delays to local enforcement action, said Symphony, which specialises in anti-microbial and oxo-biodegradable plastics.

The company's "market intelligence" indicates an improvement in government enforcement actions, however, which it expected to result in increased sales volumes over the next six months.

Other regions were performing better, however, with sales in Central America, Europe, Africa and the Far East all growing ahead of budget.

Total revenue for the full year are expected to increase by approximately 6%, broadly in line with market expectations, while the board expects full year earnings to come in at around £0.1m. Last year the company made adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £1.2m and in the first half of this year made an operating profit of £18,000.

Sales have been assisted by two recent orders, one a $0.06m order for delivery of d2p anti-microbial gloves to the US and another larger $0.12m initial order for the company’s anti-insect technology from a “very large global manufacturer of commercial agricultural products”.

Finally, Symphony reported that more was being spent on Marketing, with costs up to £0.38m for the year, as an in-house marketing department has been established and has worked to head-off “negative disinformation” that criticises oxo-biodegradable technology.

Symphony Environment’s shares were down 28.21% at 7.00p at 0836 BST.