24 April 2009
Stanelco plc ('the Company' or 'the Group')
Interim Management Statement
Stanelco plc, which is holding its 2009 Annual General Meeting at 10.30am today, issues its interim management statement for the period from 1 January 2009 to 23 April 2009, as required by the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
The 2009 financial year has started well and trading during the first quarter to 31 March 2009 was in line with the Board's expectations.
In the quarter the Group achieved double digit revenue growth in sales of bioplastics made directly by the Company. The Group also achieved double digit growth in its RF Applications division as we continued to broaden our RF product offering.
A slightly slower start to the year led to third party sales from our joint venture, Biotec, being 2% down in the quarter compared with the same period last year. However by the end of the quarter sales had returned to previous levels and are now showing an upward trend.
Overall, Group revenues increased in the quarter to £3.5m (Q1 2008: £3.4m).
We continue to work closely with our customer base in the BioPlastics division, carefully developing products that will meet their specific requirements and will, in time, be suitable for volume commercialisation. The wide experience of the technical team we have put in place and the close support of the pilot facility in Southampton are proving invaluable in this respect.
In the RF Applications division, where our main focus has been on widening our product range, we have received a number of orders in the quarter for products introduced last year for the induction heating market and continue to see significant interest in our range of furnaces, particularly from customers in the Far East.
The Board's focus for this year continues to be on cash control and generating profitability from our operations. At 31 March 2009 we had cash of £5.5m and we continue to consider sensible investment opportunities to accelerate our growth.
- Ends -
For further information please contact:
Paul Mines, Chief Executive, Stanelco plc Sue Bygrave, Group Finance Director, Stanelco plc |
Tel: +44 (0) 2380 867100 |
Jonathon Brill/Caroline Stewart, Financial Dynamics |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7831 3113 |