annual report 2012
symphony environmental technologies plc annual report and accounts 2012 symphony environmental 
technologies plc dedicated 
to ﬁnding technical solutions 
to the world’s environmental 
and public health problems
we care passionately about health and the environment 
over the years we have identiﬁed areas in which symphony can 
make a difference not just in our home country of great britain 
but also all around the world
since 2012 the group has been broadening its horizons 
looking at the wider health and environmental issues that 
could be solved through innovation in the last year alone we 
have launched new ranges of our d
2
p masterbatch that provide 
antifungal performance in plastic products our antibacterial 
d
2
p is already on the market and other variations and 
applications are in development d
2
p complements our 
worldleading controlledlife masterbatch d
2
w which converts 
plastic at the end of its useful life into a biodegradable material
our qualitycontrol and anticounterfeiting d
2
detector device 
is proving its worth and our d
2
t masterbatch range of d
2
t tag 
and trace technologies provide customers with the reassurance 
that their products can be identiﬁed as genuine symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 01
financial statements governance business review
highlights 2011–12
business review
02  symphony at a glance
04  chairman’s statement
06 our key strengths 
 – innovation and technology 
 – infrastructure 
 – our global network 
 – people and service
10   chief executive’s review
14 our products
18  corporate social responsibility
governance
20 board of directors
22 directors’ report
24 remuneration report
financial statements
25  independent auditor’s report 
26  consolidated statement  
of comprehensive income
27  consolidated statement  
of financial position 
28  consolidated statement  
of changes in equity
29  consolidated cash flow 
statement
30  notes to the annual report  
and accounts
48 company balance sheet
49  notes to the company  
balance sheet
for more information visit 
wwwsymphonyplasticscom 
  revenues of £494 million 
2011 £854 million 
  operating loss of £218 
million 2011 proﬁt 
£050 million
  loss before tax of £220 
million 2011 proﬁt 
£042 million
  loss after tax of £222 million 
2011 proﬁt £052 million 
  basic loss per share of 174p 
2011 earnings per share 
042p
  cash generated from 
operations £045 million 
2011 cash consumed 
£019 million
  increase in number of 
distributors from 67 to 72
post yearend
  revenues for january 
and february 2013 
100 higher than same 
period in 2012
  legislation in uae 
extended to cover 
13 more products for 
oxobiodegradable 
technology
  legislation in pakistan 
makes oxobiodegradable 
technology mandatory
 
launch of symtyres300
  directors increased 
share holding from 143 
to 196 symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
02
symphony is a global company reaching 
every corner of the globe we have a 
growing number of distributors and 
subdistributors giving us a presence 
in over 90 countries worldwide 
our brands
symphony environmental technologies
d
2
w is a masterbatch 
which when included at the 
manufacturing stage turns 
ordinary plastic at the end of 
its useful life into a material 
with a different molecular 
structure at that stage it is 
no longer a plastic and has 
become a material which is 
inherently biodegradable in 
the open environment in 
the same way as a leaf 
 see page 14
httpdegradablenetd2w
controlledlifeplastic 
whatisd2w 
d
2
p is a masterbatch range 
that provides antimicrobial 
performance the active 
ingredients in d
2
p have been 
successfully tested against 
over 50 common organisms 
and dangerous bacteria such 
as mrsa ecoli salmonella 
listeria pseudomonas 
and aspergillus niger 
symphony currently has two 
ranges of d
2
p masterbatch 
d
2
pab is antibacterial 
and d
2
paf is antifungal 
 see page 15
httpdegradablenetﬁles
uploadedenvironmental 
d2p20abpdf 
httpdegradablenetﬁles
uploadedenvironmental 
d2p20afpdf 
d
2
t is a masterbatch  
range that provides 
anticounterfeiting 
performance tag and trace 
technologies offer the ability 
to accurately determine the 
content of your plastic 
packaging and other plastic 
products through a unique 
tracer or a sophisticated 
forensic tagging system d
2
t 
complements symphony’s 
portable d
2
detector device
 see page 16
symphony at a glance symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 03
business review governance financial statements
our global network
the network is backed 
up by a global team  
for technical and 
marketing support
the d
2
detector is a 
xrf xray device that 
allows customers and 
the authorities in countries 
with relevant legislation to 
determine in less than 60 
seconds whether or not a 
plastic product contains d
2
w 
or d
2
p or d
2
t additives as 
speciﬁed and whether it 
contains any undesirable 
substances
 see page 16
httpwwwyoutubecom
watchvjtlqrgznrgg 
wastetovalue symphony 
has identiﬁed the disposal of 
scrap tyres as a major issue 
and we are asked to provide 
solutions for the millions of 
scrap tyres dumped around 
the world symphony 
recycling technologies 
has launched symtyres300 
as a ﬁrst step solution 
which “ﬂatpacks” the 
tyres making them easier 
and more costeffective 
to store and to transport 
symphony is currently 
working on further solutions 
for scrap tyres and other 
waste products
 see page 17
httpsymphonyrecyclingnet
technologysymtyres300 
symphony is proud to be a foundermember 
of the oxobiodegradable plastics association 
which exists to explain and promote 
oxobiodegradable plastics technology symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
04
chairman’s statement 
nirj deva
2012 was disappointing in terms of 
ﬁnancial performance but strong in 
terms of cash generation and product and 
market development there were delays 
in securing expected orders and the group 
changed its trading polices in order to 
reduce foreign exchange and asset risks 
by improving the level of letter of credit 
or proforma based business this led to a 
reduction in revenues for the year to £494 
million 2011 £854 million and a loss before 
tax of £220 million 2011 proﬁt £042 million 
the policies were however successful in 
contributing to the generation of £045 million 
of cash from operations 2011 cash 
consumed £019 million
underlying r  d expenditure increased in 
line with identiﬁed opportunities together 
with d
2
w controlled life products and 
applications we invested further into our 
d
2
p antimicrobial and antifungal and d
2
t 
anticounterfeiting products the group 
employs a highly qualiﬁed scientiﬁc team with 
a presence in four continents full “inhouse” 
development facilities became operational 
during 2012
our recycling division symphony recycling 
technologies continued its investment in 
tyre recycling technologies the government
funded rupert project successfully concluded 
at the end of the year and we are investigating 
commercial opportunities going forward 
“ the most signiﬁcant aspect 
over the last twelve months 
was the increasing momentum 
of legislative change in favour 
of d
2
w oxobiodegradable 
type products”
signiﬁcantly and separate to rupert we 
launched in early 2013 the symtyres300 
tyre “ﬂatpack” machine in order to generate 
initial revenues and to establish an early 
market presence
the most signiﬁcant aspect over the 
last twelve months was the increasing 
momentum of legislative change in favour 
of d
2
w oxobiodegradable type products the 
results of this are expected to show in 2013 
pakistan announced in february 2013 that 
it has legislated against plastic which is not 
oxobiodegradable and the united arab 
emirates extended its product range covered 
by similar legislation that came into effect 
in 2012 this extension to the product range 
adds items such as food packaging and 
stretch ﬁlms to the carrier bags and refuse 
sacks that are currently being enforced 
other countries are following their example
exciting opportunities have been developed 
for our d
2
p product range with enduser 
beneﬁts relating to food and nonfood sectors 
with potential cost savings being identiﬁed for 
the industry and the consumer this is being 
marketed through our existing distribution 
network together with d
2
t which we believe 
is a unique and valuable offering to users with 
a highly valued brand or to protect high value 
goods from unauthorised copying
i am pleased to report that revenues for 
january and february 2013 are 100 higher 
than in the same period last year
i would like to thank our distributors staff 
and the board for their hard work over the 
last year and we look forward to the future 
with conﬁdence
nirj deva dl frsa mep
chairman
26 march 2013
identifying 
opportunities symphony environmental  
technologies plc
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accounts 2012
 05
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our strategy
our strategy is to deliver sustained 
revenue growth and increase visibility 
and awareness of the company 
and its achievements over the 
forthcoming year
markets
  we will continue to encourage 
legislation in favour of 
oxobiodegradable plastic
  we will create value for end users 
and brands
 we will increase brand values
  we will strengthen our global 
distribution network
diversiﬁcation and investment
  we will continue to invest in research 
and development
  we will extend our product range 
by introducing new d
2
w d
2
p and 
d
2
t products
  we will commercialise symphony 
recycling technologies
plastic ﬁlm being blown in a factory
d 2w product range continues to grow symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
06
symphony has its own laboratories and test 
facilities in the uk where our technical teams 
test develop and continuously improve our 
products we continue to invest in rd as we 
strongly believe that it is essential to answer 
the world’s health and environmental problems 
over the last year we have invested in new 
equipment and worked extensively with 
universities and scientiﬁc centres all over 
the world  symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 07
business review governance financial statements
we have an infrastructure in place for providing 
support to our global marketing and sales 
teams symphony currently has three locations 
in the uk our head office is at borehamwood 
where we also have a laboratory for scientiﬁc 
experiments testing and developments at great 
yarmouth we have a technical team focusing on 
qualitycontrol testing and at telford our 
newest laboratory is equipped with machinery 
for industrial experiments and product 
development symphony works with a number 
of universities and specialised test centres 
around the world symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
08
symphony is a global company with a presence 
in almost all parts of the globe we develop and 
maintain successful partnerships with distributors 
and subdistributors worldwide and we continue 
to grow our distribution network we work with 
our network to build relationships in their countries 
with suppliers manufacturers end users and the 
governmental and nongovernmental sectors symphony environmental  
technologies plc
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accounts 2012
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we aim to provide value efficiency quality and 
fulﬁlment to our customers and staff with a 
focus on striving for excellence and ensuring 
that we deliver on our promise as a professional 
organisation we value our people who are our 
greatest asset our strengths come from 
attracting the right people and from providing 
support for our customers around the world 
based on experience and technical excellence  
we know how to make the products and equally 
important we know how to use them in their 
industrial applications our marketing and 
technical teams are available at short notice in 
most time zones as the only public company 
listed in london in the oxobiodegradable ﬁeld 
we pride ourselves on the service we provide 
which is a major factor in purchasing decisions 
by our customers symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
10
chief executive’s review
the year under review can be divided into 
two parts the ﬁrst being the ﬁnancial and 
the second the commercial as to the ﬁrst 
a reduction in revenues together with a 
substantial trading loss was recorded the cause 
for this exceptional result following a proﬁt trend 
was a delay in expected sales from markets 
where we could see a process of legislative 
change albeit not implemented and a change 
in operating policies the change in operating 
policies led to a signiﬁcant reduction of 
receivables and also stocks held by the distributor 
network this resulted in an improved working
capital cycle and a reduced exposure to credit 
risk the cash generated from this strategy was 
£045 million and this was reinvested into 
product research and development 
on the second part the commercial we 
achieved considerable success the foundations 
were created to increase revenues and a move 
back into proﬁtability during 2013 in the period 
new products new markets and new territories 
were identiﬁed and established laboratory 
trials for new products in our d
2
w d
2
p and d
2
t 
technologies showed encouraging results which 
led to several lengthy commercial trials with end 
user corporations which are still ongoing 
the technical and marketing team were active 
throughout the year by focusing politicians’ and 
consumers’ attention to the beneﬁt of plastics 
with d
2
w inside this activity was supported by 
the lifecycleanalysis that was commissioned 
by us and issued by intertek in may 2012 we 
believe that the results of these actions will 
encourage countries to look at the d
2
w oxo
biodegradable option rather than ban or restrict 
the use of plastics altogether pakistan and the 
uae have changed legislation in favour of our 
type of oxobiodegradable technology and 
others have also followed this course the 
symphony technical team has been active in 
many ways and in particular are committee 
members in most of the main standards 
organisations such as astm bsi and iso 
symphony cares for the environment and the planet that we 
are leaving for future generations
plastic products containing symphony’s d 2w are recyclable 
reuseable and biodegradable
providing quality 
products and service symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
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business review governance financial statements
this strategy helps to ensure that our type of 
technologies are recognised and supported 
additionally we continue to extend our market 
reach and the global distribution network 
expanded to 72 2011 67 during 2012
the symphony recycling division also made 
some positive steps forward and continues to 
develop its recycling technologies the rupert 
project was successfully completed in 
december 2012
operationally the following was achieved  
during 2012
 accreditation to iso14001
 opening of our development facility in  
telford uk
 launch of our d
2
p antifungal technologies 
at the international bakery show iba2012 in 
munich following successful laboratory trials
 launch of our d
2
t 
anticounterfeiting technologies
trading results
total group revenues were lower at £494 million 
2011 £854 million group gross proﬁt margins 
reduced from 54 to 44 these factors 
resulted in a 53 decrease in the contribution 
from gross proﬁt from £459 million in 2011 
to £215 million in 2012 gross margins were 
reduced due to the sales mix leaning towards 
the lower value areas while the higher value 
regions reduced their local stock levels
sales to the americas reduced from £462 
million in 2011 to £211 million in 2012 and 
represented 43 of 2012 revenues 2011 54 
this was the main area where stocks and 
receivables were high at the end of 2011 and so 
suffered as a result of the change in operating 
policies our primary markets in this sector 
are mexico and brazil 
sales to uk and europe reduced from £197 
million in 2011 to £138 million in 2012 and 
represented 28 of 2012 revenues 2011 23 
this includes sales to italy which was strong in 
2011 but confused packaging legislation in the 
country led to reduced volumes in 2012 
sales to the rest of the world reduced from 
£195 million in 2011 to £145 million in 2012 and 
represented 29 of 2012 revenues 2011 23 
territories include the uae which also had high 
stocks at the end of 2011 
total expenses increased to £421 million 2011 
£390 million which included provisions against 
receivables of £039 million 2011 £nil total 
staff costs were marginally higher at £216 
million 2011 £202 million and directors’ 
emoluments reduced to £087 million in 2012 
from £089 million in 2011
the group made an operating loss of £218 
million compared with an operating proﬁt of 
£050 million in 2011 resulting in the group’s 
loss before tax of £220 million compared with 
a proﬁt before tax of £042 million in 2011 
development costs of £036 million were 
capitalised in 2012 2011 £024 million the net 
book value of capitalised development costs at 
the end of the year amounted to £131 million 
further development expenditure of £032 
million 2011 £034 million was charged directly 
to proﬁt and loss capitalised development costs 
represent 9 of expenses as detailed above 
within the total amount of £131 million 
capitalised to date are £048 million relating to 
symphony recycling technologies £025 million 
relating to d
2
w products which have been 
developed and are being sold and the balance 
of £058 million relating to further environmental 
plastic applications still in development and 
where we believe signiﬁcant revenues will be 
generated in the foreseeable future symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
12
the group reports a loss for the year of £222 
million with basic loss per share of 174 pence 
2011 earnings per share 042 pence 
the group’s primary selling currency is the 
us dollar the group hedges where possible 
by purchasing in us dollars and has banking 
facilities in place in order to secure rates going 
forward as at 31 december 2012 the group 
had a net balance of us dollar assets totalling 
032 million 2011 514 million 
segmental analysis
the group operates two divisions which are 
classiﬁed as segments in the ﬁnancial report 
being the plastics division and the recycling 
technologies division 
the plastics division includes revenues 
associated with d
2
w d
2
p and d
2
detector 
be they additives or ﬁnished products the 
plastics division which currently makes up 
all group revenues saw d
2
w additive volumes 
decrease by 40 during the year with d
2
w 
revenues reducing to £494 million 2011 
£854 million due to delays in expected orders 
and changes in operating polices as stated 
above this together with the fall in gross 
margins and increased administrative 
expenses resulted in an ebitda loss of 
£175 million in 2012 compared to a proﬁt 
of £086 million in 2011 
the recycling technologies division has no 
revenues to date and saw expenditure of 
£027 million for the year resulting in an 
ebitda loss of the same amount 2011 
expenditure and ebitda loss £022 million
cashﬂow
the group generated £045 million from 
operations 2011 cash consumed £019 
million this was due to a change in operating 
policies which led to stricter stock and 
receivables controls within the distribution 
network the group has a £1 million trade 
ﬁnance facility with hsbc bank plc which 
was drawn down to £022 million as at 
31 december 2012 drawn down to £038 
million at 31 december 2011 which is used 
to manage group working capital
in addition to development costs detailed 
above £004 million was invested in plant 
and equipment representing continued 
investment in a development centre in telford 
uk together with other laboratory equipment 
and facilities a total of £006 million was 
spent on property plant and equipment 
in 2012 2011 £028 million
symphony recycling technologies 
the rupert tyre recycling project was 
successfully completed in december 2012 
the group continues to invest in and is 
actively pursuing commercial outlets in early 
2013 we launched the symtyres300 tyre 
reduction machine we anticipate that this 
will generate revenues in the short term 
and also open the way for commercialisation 
of future developments as and when they 
come on stream
outlook
2013 has started strongly with sales showing 
a 100 improvement from the same period 
last year our main established markets are 
reporting tight stock levels and steady to 
increasing sales momentum the new 
markets for d
2
w have provided encouraging 
sales projections and marketing activity 
information they have also started 
placing orders 
the pakistan legislation prohibiting plastics 
which are not oxobiodegradable comes 
into effect in april 2013 this follows similar 
legislation previously passed in the united 
arab emirates and recently extended from 2 
products to 15 these changes to legislation 
are expected to be signiﬁcant not only in 
terms of the local markets which are 
chief executive’s review 
continued symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
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business review governance financial statements
material but also for imported items which 
are packed in plastics other countries have 
either legislated in a similar way or are 
contemplating what action should be taken 
as an example italy has draft legislation for 
a hydrobiodegradable product that conforms 
with the composting standard en 13432 
however this draft decree itself says that 
it is “subject to the information procedure 
under directive 9834ec and shall enter into 
force from the date of completion with a 
favourable outcome of the procedure itself 
the date of which shall be announced in 
the ofﬁcial gazette” it is our view that it 
is unlikely that there will be a favourable 
outcome the european commission sent on 
24 october 2012 a formal notice to the italian 
republic in the framework of infringement 
procedure 20114030 the european 
commission have conﬁrmed that italy is 
in breach of not only article 16 of directive 
9462ec and article 8 of directive 9834ec 
but also article 18 of directive 9462ec 
italy continues to use a d
2
w type oxo
biodegradable products but in low volumes 
at this point in time 
france is preparing law favourable to 
oxobiodegradable products for retail plastic 
bags which would come into force january 
2014 other european countries are also 
considering legislation
as a result of growing global activity we 
believe the legislation momentum for d
2
w 
type oxobiodegradable technologies will 
increase and we are ﬁnding more and 
more customers wanting to use the d
2
w 
brand as an answer to meet legislation 
requirements or just good csr or marketing 
practice we offer a free d
2
detector testing 
service which is unique and not provided 
by others in the industry
the united states federal trade commission 
recently issued a statement which questioned 
the validity of hydrobiodegradable plastics 
ie those made from food crop such that 
they were not suitable for composting this 
being the primary reason why hydro
biodegradable products are sold
in may 2012 intertek published a life cycle 
assessment which showed that d
2
w oxo
biodegradable plastics are 75 better than 
normal plastic when it comes to litter in 
respect to litter keep america beautiful issued 
a report where it concluded that “litter remains 
a pervasive problem” oxobiodegradables are 
designed primarily to deal with littering
all in all the above shows an increasingly 
aware global market which is leaning towards 
d
2
w type oxobiodegradable products
complementing d
2
w we believe that our 
d
2
detector will be an important tool for users 
of this type of technology as the consumer 
has no other means of identifying if a product 
really has d
2
w inside or not as it is invisible to 
the human eye the d
2
p antimicrobial and 
antimicrobial technologies will also have 
an impact in 2013 and we are currently in 
discussions with a number of bluechip 
companies regarding the commercial use 
in their products there are also similar 
situations with our d
2
t anticounterfeiting 
technologies
with the improved trading position at the start 
of 2013 the group is conﬁdent of a stronger 
ﬁnancial performance going forward and are 
encouraged by the growing positive sentiment 
towards our products and technologies
michael laurier
chief executive
26 march 2013
a bag containing d 2w masterbatch data displayed on the d 2detector screen shows a detailed 
analysis of the plastic symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
14
our products
2
plastic is lightweight ﬂexible 
strong durable heat sealable 
impervious to moisture 
recyclable and reusable but 
whether by intent or accident 
some plastic will always ﬁnd its 
way into the land environment 
and oceans creating an eyesore 
and polluting the environment
added value with symphony’s d
2
w
 d
2
w requires a 1 inclusion rate only
 d
2
w works with virgin and 
recycled plastic
 d
2
w is compatible with pe pp and ps
 d
2
w does not require any change 
to the manufacturing process
 d
2
w plastic will not just fragment 
it will biodegrade
 d
2
w plastic is nontoxic and safe for 
food contact
 d
2
w plastic does not lose any of 
its original properties during its 
useful life
 d
2
w is tested by test methods 
prescribed by the following
 – british standard 8472
 – us standard astm d6954
 – united arab emirates standard 
50092009
 – french accord afnor t51808
 – oecd 207 and 208
d
2
w is symphony’s core product being 
successful in global markets for over 
15 years it is a masterbatch which when 
included at the manufacturing stage turns 
ordinary plastic at the end of its useful life 
in the presence of oxygen into a material 
with a different molecular structure at the 
end of that process it is no longer a plastic 
and has become a material which will 
biodegrade in the open environment 
in the same way as a leaf
recent developments
over the years many governments have 
realised the potential of oxobiodegradable 
materials and its beneﬁts for the environment 
every year we have positive outcomes and 
more legislation comes into force to ban 
regular plastic and allow only 
oxobiodegradable plastic to be used for 
shopping bags and other shortlife plastic 
products the uae was the ﬁrst country to 
legislate and they have announced that as 
from 1 january 2014 they will extend the 
range of plastic products that must be 
oxobiodegradable pakistan has announced 
similar legislation as from 1 april 2013 in the 
balkans slovenia serbia montenegro and 
albania have recognised the beneﬁts of 
oxobiodegradable plastic as have several 
countries in africa in 2012 intertek published 
“a life cycle assessment of oxobiodegrdable 
compostable and conventional bags” which 
showed that the environmental credentials 
of d
2
w plastics are ahead of biobased and 
conventional plastics  symphony environmental  
technologies plc
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accounts 2012
 15
symphony’s 
antimicrobial family
antibacterial
ab af
antimicrobial
antifungal
antialgae
business review governance financial statements
2
d
2
p antibacterial 
the threat of infection has increased as we 
live in denser urban populations d
2
p is an 
antibacterial formulation that has been 
successfully tested against over 50 common 
organisms including dangerous bacteria 
such as mrsa ecoli salmonella listeria 
pseudomonas and aspergillus niger we 
have developed a d
2
p antibacterial system 
that provides an extra layer of protection 
against transmission of infection through 
contact with everyday plastic items 
designed as a masterbatch to be added 
at the manufacturing stage the inorganic 
nature small particle size and high 
temperature tolerance of the active 
ingredient makes it ideal for use in 
a wide range of polymer processes 
added value with symphony’s d
2
p 
antibacterial
  tried and tested silverbased 
technology
  fights healthcare and food industry 
infections
  tested to iso 22196 and jis z 2801 to 
demonstrate its antibacterial efficacy
  helps prevent staining discolouration 
and odour development
  addition rate of 1–2
  compatible with pp  pe pet ps pvc 
and most other plastics
d
2
p antifungal 
d
2
p antifungal is a unique formulation 
for plastic products designed to prevent 
fungal contamination whilst preserving the 
aesthetic and functional properties of plastic 
products the antifungal ingredient is used 
globally in a variety of applications it acts to 
prevent growth of fungi bacteria mildew 
and algae that can cause discoloration 
staining and odours and which are a danger 
to human health produced as a masterbatch 
to be added at the manufacturing stage 
it provides excellent resistance to fungi 
bacteria and algae 
added value with symphony’s d
2
p 
antifungal
  increase the shelflife of fresh food
  reduce requirements for food 
preservatives
  inhibit mould growth on food and 
nonfood applications
  addition rate of 1–2
  compatible with most plastics
  tested by international testing 
methods such as iso 168692008 
iso 221962011 pren wdalgae 
astm g21 iso 846 symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
16
our products
2 2 2
d
2
t – anticounterfeiting systems
d
2
t masterbatches provide a unique trace 
that is added at the manufacturing stage 
of products and there is also a sophisticated 
forensic tagging system for highvalue 
products symphony’s t ag and t race 
technologies give you the ability to accurately 
determine whether your plastic packaging 
and products are genuine – which gives 
you and your customers peace of mind
d
2
trace
 d
2
trace is a masterbatch tracer 
technology system which provides 
plastic with a unique identity
  added at a rate of only 1 at the 
manufacturing stage d
2
trace is 
compatible with the vast majority 
of plastics
  no change is required to the 
manufacturing process
  the tracer can be easily read using 
symphony’s portable d
2
detector 
machine
d
2
tag
 d
2
tag provides a sophisticated tracer 
solution using a microtag smaller 
than a grain of salt with over 1 billion 
unique codes this provides detailed 
data reading authentication and 
brand protection
 d
2
tag is made of clear highpurity silica 
and it carries product intelligence such 
as batch number manufacturing date 
or similar information
  tags are biologically inert and edible 
and generally recognised as safe 
by fda
 d
2
tag has a low unit cost and offers 
great security 
d
2
detector
in an increasingly competitive market 
qualitycontrol is of vital importance 
d
2
detector is an invaluable tool for analysing 
the chemical composition of plastics for 
quality control and anticounterfeiting 
the d
2
detector uses xrf technology and is 
perfectly designed to work with symphony’s 
d
2
w d
2
p and d
2
t technologies the device 
is portable and can be easily transported 
as required
fast detection
  designed to detect speciﬁed 
masterbatches
 a portable unit
  detects in less than 60 seconds
brand protection
  quality control and brand protection 
are essential for any modern 
business
 d
2
detector is the world’s ﬁrst 
portable device that can be used 
to verify that plastic products are 
authentic and not inferior copies symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 17
business review governance financial statements
symphony has identiﬁed the 
disposal of scrap tyres as a 
major issue both at home in 
the uk and all over the world 
we are asked to provide solutions for the 
billions of scrap tyres dumped around the 
world there are currently over 10 billion scrap 
tyres around the world dumping and failing 
to dispose of scrap tyres can lead to an 
elevated danger of ﬁre rodent infestation and 
groundpollution mosquitoes breeding in the 
water inside scrap tyres will spread malaria 
dengue western nile fever filariasis and 
other diseases it is estimated that another 
15 billion tyres become scrap every year 
scrap tyres also take up a vast amount of 
space in workshops garages and in transit 
and are an unsightly and unproductive use of 
land they are often disposed of illegally and 
most of them cannot and should not be put 
into landﬁlls a solution has to be found 
symtyres300
symphony has announced the 
symtyres300 – a machine that can reduce 
a scraptyre into ﬂatpack components 
within 60 seconds the machine is portable 
and could be placed in any garage 
workshop tyre dump or depot
symtyres300 is a ﬁrst step symphony 
recycling technologies has also been 
developing further valueadded processes 
with imperial college london cobham 
microwave artis abb and hughes pumps 
the project was funded by the uk government 
to investigate ways of creating valuable 
products from scrap tyres it was successfully 
completed at the end of 2012 and 
commercialisation is now in progress
symtyres300 – symphony’s tyrecutting machine tyre mountains are unsightly and dangerous symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
18
corporate social responsibility
for symphony as an environmental technology 
company sustainable development is an 
important matter this means that we combine 
longterm economic objectives with social 
responsibility and environmental protection 
dealing with chemicals and masterbatches 
we are often questioned on how we meet this 
challenge we have established our potential 
risks and the challenge is in a continuous 
communication with our stakeholders 
at symphony we believe that our longterm 
future and proﬁtability depend on our 
environmental technical and social 
performance excellence in operational 
performance generates ﬁnancial returns 
while being a responsible global citizen earns 
the continued support of our customers 
shareholders communities and staff 
we have established goals that the company 
and its people are trying to achieve daily we 
understand that in today’s world it is difﬁcult 
to be a responsible individual and even more 
difﬁcult to implement change towards 
a better future it is essential to establish 
best practices support individual ambitions 
and strengthen the relationships with our 
communities around the world 
last year we completed the long and rigorous 
process leading to symphony’s accreditation 
to the environmental standard iso 14001 
which complements our existing accreditation 
to iso 9001 for quality management we 
made a commitment to lowenergy lighting 
participants of the yes course in koštunići serbia
symphony’s marketing executive nina kerkez giving a talk 
about d 2w
t otally committed 
to best practice symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 19
business review governance financial statements
and equipping our ofﬁces and laboratories 
with environmentallyfriendly supplies we 
promote paperless administration and work 
on the best practice documentmanagement 
systems we are committed to recycling of 
materials following the “reduce reuse and 
recycle” principles in addition we have 
engaged most of our businesses in ﬁnding 
solutions for the world’s environmental 
problems making us a responsible citizen 
of the world 
we provide a nurturing business environment 
which offers our employees and distributors 
the ability to continuously develop their 
competences we believe that education is 
essential no matter the age and we work 
on educational development of our people 
and the people of the world 
partnering for change
symphony is proud to be a leader in advanced 
technologies that add to sustainable future 
we are open and we always welcome 
collaboration with our suppliers customers 
communities governments and civil society 
we build relations with academic institutions 
governments ngos and industry associations 
with our strong commitment to the quality 
of life of future generations we have engaged 
for example with environmental engineering 
group an ngo based in serbia for the second 
year we continue our successful cooperation 
with a focus on raising awareness about 
environmental issues of today 
case study
youth encounter 
on sustainability – 
symphony and eeg
in july symphony participated in an 
educational workshop at the youth 
encounter on sustainability yes 
course in koštunići serbia
the yes course is an international 
programme which has been organised 
yearly in different countries for 12 
consecutive years the course is held 
thanks to the cooperation of mit university 
from the usa eth university from zurich 
chalmers university from sweden and the 
university of tokyo this is the second time 
that the yes course has been held in serbia 
– with the cooperation of environmental 
engineering group from serbia and actis 
from switzerland
young professionals from all over the 
world whose work is focused on development 
and sustainability attended classes and 
workshops and met with government 
ofﬁcials there were 27 participants 
from 16 countries – australia bangladesh 
india pakistan serbia france finland usa 
colombia brazil switzerland germany iran 
moldavia vietnam and jordan symphony led 
a seminar discussing environmental issues 
focusing on oxobiodegradable plastic as a 
way to reduce the problem of plastic litter 
which can accumulate in the environment for 
decades the participants were very pleased 
to learn about this exciting technology and 
will contribute to developing environmental 
solutions for their own countries symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
20
board of directors
14
2
3
5
6
interlocking 
strengths symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 21
business review governance financial statements
1 nirj deva dl frsa mep
nonexecutive chairman
mr deva has been a member of the european 
parliament since 1999 and is vicechairman 
of the parliament’s international development 
committee he is also chairman of the 
euchina friendship group from 1992–97 he 
was a member of the uk parliament he has 
held a number of senior political appointments 
and has advised the boards of a number of 
public companies including international 
leisure group air europe plc tricentrol oil co 
plc eds television south west thomas howell 
group john laing plc aitken spence and 
rothmans international plc
2 michael stephen llm 
deputy chairman
michael stephen is commercial director and 
deputy chairman of the plc and chairman 
of its subsidiary companies he qualiﬁed as 
a solicitor with distinction in company law 
he was called to the bar and practised from 
chambers in london for many years dealing 
with civil cases in the high court and court 
of appeal he was a member of the uk 
parliament 1992–97 and was a member of the 
environment select committee of the house 
of commons he served in government as 
parliamentary private secretary at the ministry 
of agriculture he held a harkness fellowship 
in law at stanford and harvard universities in 
the usa and was deputy legal adviser to the 
british ambassador to the united nations
3 michael laurier 
chief executive ofﬁcer
michael is the chief executive of the 
company michael’s career began with his 
long established family packaging business 
brentwood sack and bag co limited he took 
over responsibility for sales and production in 
the mid1970s and changed the emphasis of 
the company’s business from jute products 
to polythene packaging introducing the then 
innovative high density and medium density 
polythene bags into the uk market in 1975
he was appointed managing director of 
brentapac uk plc which formerly owned 
the tuffy trademark in 1985 with continuing 
responsibility for national and international 
sales he cofounded symphony plastics in 1995
4 ian bristow fcca 
finance director and company secretary
ian was in private practice for seven years 
qualifying as a certiﬁed accountant in 1992 
in 1994 he joined brentapac uk plc until it 
was sold in 1994 he went on to cofound 
symphony plastics in 1995
5 michael f stephens 
technical director
michael began his career with excelsior plastics 
limited a division of unigate progressing over 
a period of ten years to sales director leaving 
in 1981 he worked for sempol products 
autobar group and acp plastics a subsidiary 
of s p metal group all manufacturers of 
packaging ﬁlms in 1988 michael founded 
skymark packaging international limited 
serving the snack food bakery mail wrap 
paper disposable markets which he left in 
november 1997 to join symphony michael 
is a member of the british standards institute 
packaging committee and a member of 
the european standards committees for 
degradable agricultural and packaging ﬁlms
6 nicolas clavel
nonexecutive director
nicolas clavel started his career in international 
banking in the midseventies and his area of 
expertise has been structured trade ﬁnance 
and equity investments with a particular focus 
on emerging markets he is chief investment 
ofﬁcer of scipion capital ltd the investment 
manager of scipion african opportunities fund 
spc and is personally cf 1 3 11 and cf 30 
approved by the uk financial services 
authority nicolas is swiss and is based in 
london and geneva he is ﬂuent in english 
french italian and german symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
22
the directors present their report and the audited ﬁnancial statements of the group for the year ended 31 december 2012 
principal activities and business review
the primary business activities of the group are the development and supply of environmental plastic products to a global market 
and the development of waste to value projects the group also supplies other ﬂexible polythene and related products
a review of the business and future developments is given in the chairman’s statement and chief executive’s review
the loss for the year after taxation amounted to £2224000 2011 proﬁt £520000
results and dividends
the trading results for the year and the group’s ﬁnancial position at the end of the year are shown in the attached ﬁnancial statements
the directors have not recommended a dividend
key performance indicators
the directors have monitored the progress of the overall group strategy by reference to certain ﬁnancial and nonﬁnancial key 
performance indicators
key performance indicator 2012 2011 method of calculation
sales d
2
w £’000 4938 8414 sales revenue solely of d
2
w additives and products
gross proﬁt margin  44 54 the ratio of gross proﬁt to sales
number of distributors 72 67 the number of distribution agreements signed
these are discussed within the chairman’s statement and chief executive’s review
research and development
the group is involved in the research and development of environmental plastic products and waste to value systems
the directors and their interests
the directors who served during the year and their interests in the shares of the company are shown in the remuneration report
policy on the payment of creditors
it is the group’s policy to settle the terms of payment with suppliers when agreeing the terms of the transaction and to ensure that suppliers 
are aware of these terms and abide by them trade payables at the year end amount to 112 days 2011 86 of average supplies for the year 
for the group and 17 days 2011 57 for the company 
principal risks and uncertainties
the directors have identiﬁed and continually monitor the principal risks and uncertainties of the group these may change over time as new 
risks emerge and others cease to be of concern the principal risks of the group are detailed below
foreign exchange risk
the group sells products in many countries and so generates revenues in us dollars and euros foreign exchange rates ﬂuctuate and 
as such assets created in foreign currencies are liable to constant revaluations into their sterling equivalent the group mitigates this 
risk by purchasing where practicable in currencies to match revenues the group also has exchange facilities with its bank to use as 
and when appropriate
competition risk
the group faces competition from suppliers of similar products which could affect revenues andor gross margins the group mitigates 
this risk by employing a large number of distributors globally who can concentrate on any competition issues within their market 
and also by differentiating the group’s products by branding and marketing activities
raw material pricing and availability
the group uses commodity and speciality materials in the makeup of its products there is a risk of price volatility and material availability 
the group mitigates this risk by using more than one supplier of its products and continually researching separate supply alternatives for 
the materials used
directors’ report symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 23
directors’ responsibilities statement
the directors are responsible for preparing the directors’ report and the ﬁnancial statements in accordance with applicable law 
and regulations
company law requires the directors to prepare ﬁnancial statements for each ﬁnancial year under that law the directors have elected to 
prepare the ﬁnancial statements in accordance with international financial reporting standards as adopted by the european union ifrss 
the parent company’s own ﬁnancial statements continue to be prepared in accordance with united kingdom generally accepted accounting 
practice united kingdom accounting standards and applicable laws under company law the directors must not approve the ﬁnancial 
statements unless they are satisﬁed that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs and proﬁt or loss of the company and group 
for that period in preparing these ﬁnancial statements the directors are required to
 select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
 make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent
 state whether applicable ifrss or uk accounting standards have been followed subject to any material departures disclosed and 
explained in the ﬁnancial statements and
 prepare the ﬁnancial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the company will continue in business 
the directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufﬁcient to show and explain the company’s transactions 
and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the ﬁnancial position of the company and enable them to ensure that the ﬁnancial 
statements comply with the companies act 2006 they are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for 
taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities
the directors conﬁrm that 
 so far as each director is aware there is no relevant audit information of which the company’s auditor is unaware and
 the directors have taken all steps that they ought to have taken as directors in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit 
information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information
the directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and ﬁnancial information included on the company’s 
website legislation in the united kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of ﬁnancial statements may differ from legislation 
in other jurisdictions 
going concern
the group incurred losses during the year and its cash reserves have fallen since the end of the previous year during the year the group 
changed its operating procedures so as to accelerate cashﬂows generated from revenues by way of improving letter of credit or proforma 
based business during the year £045 million was generated from operations in addition revenues were reduced in 2012 due to over
stocking within the distribution network in the previous year with stocks within the distribution network now much lower revenues for 2013 
have started at a higher rate than they did in 2012 taking into account the above the cashﬂow forecast that management has prepared 
for the ensuing twelve months where a forecast increase in sales will lead to increased cash through the invoice discount facility and the 
banking facilities in place the directors are of the opinion that it is appropriate to continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing 
these ﬁnancial statements
corporate governance
the group is committed to developing and adhering to high standards of corporate governance as an aim listed company it is not required 
to comply with the uk corporate governance code as issued by the uk’s listing authority however it seeks to follow the principles of good 
governance as far as management believes it is practical for a group of its size nature and circumstances 
financial risk management policies
the group’s ﬁnancial risk management policies are detailed in note 3 to the ﬁnancial statements
auditor
a resolution to appoint grant thornton uk llp as auditor for the ensuing year will be proposed at the annual general meeting
by order of the board
i bristow 
company secretary 
26 march 2013
business review governance financial statements symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
24
directors’ emoluments 
2012 2011
basic  
salary or 
fees  
£’000
beneﬁts 
£’000
pension 
£’000
total 
emoluments 
£’000
total 
emoluments 
£’000
n deva 51 – – 51 51
m laurier 226 4 24 254 253
i bristow 155 4 15 174 173
m stephen 171 10 – 181 179
m f stephens 182 9 11 180 203
n clavel 34 – – 34 34
819 27 28 874 893
the directors’ pensions where applicable are administered by those directors 
the company has taken out insurance for its ofﬁcers against liabilities in relation to the company under section 233 of the 
companies act 2006
directors’ interests
the directors in ofﬁce at the end of the year together with their beneﬁcial interests in the shares of the company were as follows
ordinary shares of £001 each
at  
31 december  
2012
at  
1 january  
2012 
n deva 313925 290425
m laurier 15360600 15175600
i bristow 1063925 1063925
m stephen 615998 490998
m f stephens 311294 311294
n clavel 500000 350000
share options
the following directors have share options or agreements for share options
number  
of share  
options
exercise price 
pence per 
share exercisable from exercisable to
n deva 1500000 4500 26 november 2008 26 november 2018
n deva 250000 9875 18 december 2010 18 december 2019
m laurier 1851500 4500 26 november 2008 26 november 2018
m laurier 350000 9125 31 march 2010 30 march 2020
i bristow 3000000 4500 26 november 2008 26 november 2018
i bristow 280000 9125 31 march 2010 30 march 2020
m stephen 1200000 6250 28 april 2007 28 april 2017
m stephen 2000000 4500 26 november 2008 26 november 2018
m stephen 210000 9125 31 march 2010 30 march 2020
m f stephens 210000 9125 31 march 2010 30 march 2020
n clavel 500000 4500 16 october 2009 16 october 2018
n clavel 250000 9875 18 december 2010 18 december 2019
the above share options are hm revenue and customs unapproved see note 18 to the ﬁnancial statements for the terms of the above options
remuneration report symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 25
we have audited the ﬁnancial statements of symphony environmental technologies plc for the year ended 31 december 2012 which 
comprise the consolidated statement of comprehensive income consolidated statement of ﬁnancial position the consolidated statement 
of changes in equity the consolidated cash ﬂow statement the parent company balance sheet and the related notes the ﬁnancial reporting 
framework that has been applied in the preparation of the group ﬁnancial statements is applicable law and international financial reporting 
standards ifrss as adopted by the european union the ﬁnancial reporting framework that has been applied in the preparation of the parent 
company ﬁnancial statements is applicable law and united kingdom accounting standards united kingdom generally accepted 
accounting practice
this report is made solely to the company’s members as a body in accordance with chapter 3 of part 16 of the companies act 2006 
our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company’s members those matters we are required to state to them 
in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose to the fullest extent permitted by law we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone 
other than the company and the company’s members as a body for our audit work for this report or for the opinions we have formed
respective responsibilities of directors and auditor
as explained more fully in the directors’ responsibilities statement set out on page 23 the directors are responsible for the preparation 
of the ﬁnancial statements and for being satisﬁed that they give a true and fair view our responsibility is to audit and express an opinion 
on the ﬁnancial statements in accordance with applicable law and international standards on auditing uk and ireland those standards 
require us to comply with the auditing practices board’s apb’s ethical standards for auditors
scope of the audit of the ﬁnancial statements
a description of the scope of an audit of ﬁnancial statements is provided on the apb’s website at wwwfrcorgukapbscopeprivatecfm
opinion on ﬁnancial statements
in our opinion
 the ﬁnancial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and of the parent company’s affairs as at 31 december 2012 
and of the group’s loss for the year then ended 
 the group ﬁnancial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with ifrss as adopted by the european union
 the parent company ﬁnancial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with united kingdom generally accepted 
accounting practice and
 the ﬁnancial statements have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the companies act 2006
separate opinion in relation to ifrss as issued by the iasb
as explained in note 2 to the group ﬁnancial statements the group in addition to complying with its legal obligation to apply 
ifrss as adopted by the european union has also applied ifrss as issued by the international accounting standards board iasb
in our opinion the group ﬁnancial statements comply with ifrss as issued by the iasb
opinion on other matter prescribed by the companies act 2006
in our opinion the information given in the directors’ report for the ﬁnancial year for which the ﬁnancial statements are prepared 
is consistent with the ﬁnancial statements
matters on which we are required to report by exception
we have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the companies act 2006 requires us to report to you if in our opinion
 adequate accounting records have not been kept by the parent company or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from 
branches not visited by us or
 the parent company ﬁnancial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns or
 certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration speciﬁed by law are not made or
 we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit
simon jones
senior statutory auditor
for and on behalf of grant thornton uk llp
statutory auditor chartered accountants
central milton keynes
26 march 2013
independent auditor’s report to the members 
of symphony environmental technologies plc
business review governance financial statements symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
26
note
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
revenue 5 4938 8542
cost of sales 2785 3956
gross proﬁt 2153 4586
distribution costs 125 180
administrative expenses 6 4211 3902
operating lossproﬁt 6 2183 504
finance income 8 6 2
finance costs 8 20 90
lossproﬁt for the year before tax 2197 416
taxation 9 27 104
lossproﬁt for the year 2224 520
total comprehensive income for the year 2224 520
basic lossearnings per share 10 174p 042p
diluted lossearnings per share 10 174p 037p
all results are attributable to the parent company equity holders there were no discontinued operations for either of the above periods
the accompanying notes form an integral part of these ﬁnancial statements
consolidated statement of comprehensive income
for the year ended 31 december 2012 symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 27
note
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
assets
noncurrent
property plant and equipment 11 499 586
intangible assets 12 1334 1002
deferred income tax asset 9a 1216 1277
availableforsale ﬁnancial assets 14 – 15
3049 2880
current
inventories 15 637 399
trade and other receivables 16 806 3782
cash at bank and in hand 17 336 291
1779 4472
total assets 4828 7352
equity
equity attributable to shareholders of symphony environmental technologies plc
ordinary shares 18 1280 1278
share premium 18 1648 1646
retained earnings 18 205 2412
total equity 3133 5336
liabilities
noncurrent
interest bearing loans and borrowings 20 20 31
20 31
current
interest bearing loans and borrowings 20 509 518
trade and other payables 19 1166 1467
1675 1985
total liabilities 1695 2016
total equity and liabilities 4828 7352
these ﬁnancial statements were approved by the board of directors on 26 march 2013 and authorised for issue on 26 march 2013 they were 
signed on its behalf by
i bristow fcca
finance director
the accompanying notes form an integral part of these ﬁnancial statements
consolidated statement of financial position 
as at 31 december 2012
company number 3676824
business review governance financial statements symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
28
share  
capital  
£’000
share 
premium 
£’000
retained 
earnings 
£’000
total  
equity  
£’000
for the year to 31 december 2012
balance at 1 january 2012 1278 1646 2412 5336
issue of share capital 22 –4
sharebased options – – 17 17
transactions with owners 2 2 17 21
loss and total comprehensive income for the year – – 2224 2224
balance at 31 december 2012 1280 1648 205 3133
for the year to 31 december 2011
balance at 1 january 2011 1173 17 1863 3053
issue of share capital 105 1629 – 1734
sharebased options – – 29 29
transactions with owners 105 1629 29 1763
proﬁt and total comprehensive income for the year – – 520 520
balance at 31 december 2011 1278 1646 2412 5336
the accompanying notes form an integral part of these ﬁnancial statements
consolidated statement of changes in equity
for the year ended 31 december 2012
equity attributable to the equity holders of symphony environmental technologies plc symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 29
note
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
operating activities
net cash generatedused from operations 21 414 194
tax received 34 7
net cash generatedused from operating activities 448 187
investing activities
additions to property plant and equipment 59 280
proceeds from disposals of property plant and equipment 14 44
additions to intangible assets 361 247
net cash used in investing activities 406 483
financing activities
repayment of loans – 750
movement in working capital facility 163 327
new ﬁnance leases – 4 
discharge of ﬁnance lease liability 25 14
proceeds from share issue 4 1734
interest paid 20 90
net cash usedgenerated in ﬁnancial activities 204 1211
net change in cash and cash equivalents 162 541
cash and cash equivalents beginning of year 180 361
exchange gainloss 39 –
cash and cash equivalents end of year 57 180
the reconciliation to the cash and cash equivalents as reported in the statement of ﬁnancial position is as follows
note
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
loans and receivables
 cash at bank and in hand 17 336 291
financial liabilities measured at amortised cost
 bank overdraft 20 279 111
cash and cash equivalents end of year 57 180
the accompanying notes form an integral part of these ﬁnancial statements 
consolidated cash flow statement
for the year ended 31 december 2012
business review governance financial statements symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
30
1 general information
symphony environmental technologies plc “the company” and subsidiaries together “the group” develop and supply environmental 
plastic additives and products and develop waste to value systems
the company a public limited company is the group’s ultimate parent company it is incorporated and domiciled in england company 
number 3676824 the address of its registered ofﬁce is 6 elstree gate elstree way borehamwood hertfordshire wd6 1jd england 
the company’s shares are listed on the aim market of the london stock exchange and as a level 1 adr in new york
2 summary of signiﬁcant accounting policies
these consolidated ﬁnancial statements have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of international financial reporting 
standards ifrs as adopted by the european union issued and effective or issued as at 31 december 2012 and also comply with ifrs 
as issued by the international accounting standards board iasb 
the accounting policies have remained unchanged from the previous year 
going concern 
the group incurred losses during the year and its cash reserves have fallen since the end of the previous year during the year the group 
changed its operating procedures so as to accelerate cashﬂows generated from revenues by way of improving letter of credit or proforma 
based business during the year £045 million was generated from operations in addition revenues were reduced in 2012 due to 
overstocking within the distribution network in the previous year with stocks within the distribution network now much lower revenues 
for 2013 have started at a higher rate than they did in 2012 taking into account the above the cashﬂow forecast that management has 
prepared for the ensuing twelve months where a forecast increase in sales will lead to increased cash through the invoice discount facility 
and the banking facilities in place the directors are of the opinion that it is appropriate to continue to adopt the going concern basis in 
preparing these ﬁnancial statements
business combinations completed prior to date of transition to ifrs
the group has not restated business combinations which took place prior to the date of transition to ifrs
accordingly the classiﬁcation of the combination remains unchanged from that used under uk gaap the assets and liabilities 
are recognised at date of transition and are measured using their united kingdom generally accepted accounting practice gaap 
carrying amount
business combinations exemption
the group ﬁnancial statements consolidate the ﬁnancial statements of the company and all subsidiary undertakings 
the acquisition of symphony environmental limited formerly symphony plastics limited on 9 december 1999 was accounted for 
under merger accounting under uk gaap and has been treated in this manner under ifrs as the business combination exemption has 
been adopted in these annual report and accounts the merger accounting method requires assets and liabilities to not be adjusted to 
fair value and the results of the subsidiary to be included as if it had always been part of the group therefore the results of the group 
include both the results pre and postacquisition 
segment reporting 
in identifying its operating segments management generally follows the group’s service lines which represent the main products and 
services provided by the group
there are currently two service lines “plastics” and “recycling technologies recycling tech” the plastics service line includes all activities 
in relation to the sale of plastic products and their associated items this includes the sale of plastic degradable additives ﬁnished goods 
nondegradable products and d
2
detectors the recycling technologies segment includes all activities involved in the development of tyre 
and rubber recycling systems
each of the operating segments is managed separately as each of these service lines requires different technologies and other resources 
as well as marketing approaches all intersegments transfers are carried out at arm’s length prices
the measurement policies the group uses for segment reporting under ifrs 8 are the same as those used in its ﬁnancial statements except 
that oneoff costs such as postemployment beneﬁt expenses are not included in arriving at the operating proﬁt of the operating segments 
in addition corporate assets which are not directly attributable to the business activities of any operating segment are not allocated to 
a segment in the ﬁnancial periods under review this primarily applies to availableforsale ﬁnancial assets held by the group
segment information is presented in accordance with ifrs 8 for all periods presented ifrs 8 only requires disclosure of segment information 
 
notes to the annual report and accounts symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 31
revenue
degradable and nondegradable goods and associated products plastics segment 
revenue is stated at the fair value of the consideration receivable and excludes vat and trade discounts
revenue from the sale of goods is recognised when all of the following conditions have been satisﬁed
a  ownership of the signiﬁcant risks and rewards has been transferred to the buyer whereby the group relies on incoterms a series 
of predeﬁned commercial terms published by the international chamber of commerce to assess this
b the amount of revenue can be measured effectively whereby the group sells goods after receipt of conﬁrmed orders
c it is probable that the economic beneﬁts associated with the transaction will ﬂow to the entity and
d the costs incurred or to be incurred in respect of the transaction can be measured reliably
intangible assets
research and development costs
expenditure on research or the research phase of an internal project is recognised as an expense in the period in which it is incurred 
development costs incurred on speciﬁc projects are capitalised when all the following conditions are satisﬁed
 completion of the intangible asset is technically feasible so that it will be available for use or sale
 the group intends to complete the intangible asset and use or sell it
 the group has the ability to use or sell the intangible asset
 the intangible asset will generate probable future economic beneﬁts among other things this requires that there is a market for the output 
from the intangible asset or for the intangible asset itself or if it is to be used internally the asset will be used in generating such beneﬁts
 there are adequate technical ﬁnancial and other resources to complete the development and to use or sell the intangible asset and
 the expenditure attributable to the intangible asset during its development can be measured reliably
development costs not meeting the criteria for capitalisation are expensed as incurred
the cost of an internally generated intangible asset comprises all directly attributable costs necessary to create produce and prepare the 
asset to be capable of operating in the manner intended by management the nature of the group’s activities in the ﬁeld of development 
work renders some internally generated intangible assets unable to meet the above criteria at present
amortisation commences upon completion of the asset and is shown within administrative expenses and is included at the following rate
d
2
w and other additives – 15 years straight line 
careful judgement by the directors is applied when deciding whether the recognition requirements for development costs have been met 
this is necessary as the economic success of any product development is uncertain and may be subject to future technical problems at the 
time of recognition judgements are based on the information available at each balance sheet date 
trademarks
trademarks represent the cost of registration and are carried at cost less amortisation
amortisation is calculated so as to write off the cost of an asset less its estimated residual value over the useful economic life of that 
asset as follows
trademarks – 10 years straight line
property plant and equipment
property plant and equipment are stated at cost net of depreciation and any provision for impairment
depreciation is calculated so as to write off the cost of an asset less its estimated residual value over the useful economic life of that 
asset as follows
plant and machinery – 20 reducing balance
fixtures and ﬁttings – 25 reducing balance
fixtures and ﬁttings elstree gate – 10 straight line
motor vehicles – 20 reducing balance
ofﬁce equipment – 25 straight line
the residual value and useful economic lives are reconsidered annually
impairment testing of intangible assets and property plant and equipment
for the purposes of assessing impairment assets are grouped at the lowest levels for which there are separately identiﬁable cash ﬂows 
cashgenerating units as a result some assets are tested individually for impairment and some are tested at cashgenerating unit level 
those intangible assets not yet available for use are tested for impairment at least annually all other individual assets or cashgenerating 
units are tested for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable
an impairment loss is recognised for the amount by which the asset’s or cashgenerating unit’s carrying amount exceeds its recoverable 
amount the recoverable amount is the higher of fair value reﬂecting market conditions less costs to sell and value in use based on an 
internal discounted cash ﬂow evaluation all assets are subsequently reassessed for indications that an impairment loss previously 
recognised may no longer exist
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32
2 summary of signiﬁcant accounting policies continued
inventories
inventories are valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value after making due allowance for obsolete and slow moving items 
cost is determined on the basis of purchase value on a ﬁrstin ﬁrstout basis
leased assets
in accordance with international accounting standard ias 17 the economic ownership of a leased asset is transferred to the lessee if the 
lessee bears substantially all the risks and rewards related to the ownership of the leased asset the related asset is recognised at the time 
of inception of the lease at the fair value of the leased asset or if lower the present value of the minimum lease payments plus incidental 
payments if any to be borne by the lessee a corresponding amount is recognised as a ﬁnance leasing liability the interest element of leasing 
payments represents a constant proportion of the capital balance outstanding and is charged to proﬁt or loss over the period of the lease
all other leases are regarded as operating leases and the payments made under them are charged to proﬁt or loss on a straight line basis 
over the lease term lease incentives are spread over the term of the lease
pension costs
the group operates a deﬁned contribution pension scheme for employees the assets of the scheme are held separately from those 
of the group the pension costs charged against proﬁts are the contributions payable to the scheme in respect of the accounting period
taxation
current tax is the tax currently payable based on taxable proﬁt for the year
deferred income taxes are calculated using the liability method on temporary differences deferred tax is generally provided on the 
difference between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities and their tax bases tax losses available to be carried forward as well 
as other income tax credits to the group are assessed for recognition as deferred tax assets
deferred tax liabilities are provided in full with no discounting deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is probable that the 
underlying deductible temporary differences will be able to be offset against future taxable income current and deferred tax assets and 
liabilities are calculated at tax rates that are expected to apply to their respective period of realisation provided they are enacted or 
substantively enacted at the balance sheet date
changes in deferred tax assets or liabilities are recognised as a component of tax expense in proﬁt or loss except where they either relate 
to items that are charged or credited directly to equity in which case the related deferred tax is also charged or credited directly to equity 
or where they relate to items charged or credited in other comprehensive income the deferred tax change is recognised in other 
comprehensive income
foreign currencies
monetary assets and liabilities in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rates of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date 
transactions in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rate of exchange ruling at the date of the transaction exchange 
differences are taken into account in arriving at the operating result
financial assets
financial assets are divided into the following categories loans and receivables and availableforsale ﬁnancial assets financial assets 
are assigned to the different categories by management on initial recognition depending on the purpose for which they were acquired 
all ﬁnancial assets are recognised when the group becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument financial assets are 
initially recognised at fair value plus transaction costs 
the group currently has the following ﬁnancial assets
trade receivables
trade receivables are categorised as loans and receivables trade receivables are nonderivative ﬁnancial assets with ﬁxed or determinable 
payments that are not quoted in an active market trade receivables are measured subsequent to initial recognition at amortised cost using 
the effective interest method less provision for impairment any change in their value through impairment or reversal of impairment is 
recognised in proﬁt or loss
provision against trade receivables is made when there is objective evidence that the group will not be able to collect all amounts due to it in 
accordance with the original terms of those receivables the amount of the writedown is determined as the difference between the asset’s 
carrying amount and the present value of estimated future cash ﬂows
availableforsale ﬁnancial assets
availableforsale ﬁnancial assets are nonderivative ﬁnancial assets that are either designated to this category or do not qualify for 
inclusion in any of the other categories of ﬁnancial assets the group’s availableforsale ﬁnancial assets are the equity investments 
in bin hilal llc american plastic technologies llc and oxobioplast inc
the equity investments in bin hilal llc american plastic technologies llc and oxobioplast inc are measured at cost less any impairment 
charges as their fair values cannot currently be estimated reliably impairment charges are recognised in proﬁt or loss
notes to the annual report and accounts continued symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 33
an assessment for impairment is undertaken at least at each balance sheet date
a ﬁnancial asset is derecognised only where the contractual rights to the cash ﬂows from the asset expire or the ﬁnancial asset is transferred 
and that transfer qualiﬁes for derecognition a ﬁnancial asset is transferred if the contractual rights to receive the cash ﬂows of the asset 
have been transferred or the group retains the contractual rights to receive the cash ﬂows of the asset but assumes a contractual obligation 
to pay the cash ﬂows to one or more recipients a ﬁnancial asset that is transferred qualiﬁes for derecognition if the group transfers 
substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership of the asset or if the group neither retains nor transfers substantially all the risks 
and rewards of ownership but does transfer control of that asset
cash and cash equivalents
cash and cash equivalents comprise cash in hand and demand deposits together with other shortterm highly liquid investments that 
are readily convertible into known amounts of cash and which are subject to an insigniﬁcant risk of changes in value
finance lease receivables
goods sold under ﬁnance leases are recognised as a sale on date of the ﬁnance lease agreement or if later when substantially all the risks 
and rewards of ownership of the asset have passed to the lessee the capital element of future lessee obligations is included in assets in the 
statement of ﬁnancial position
the interest elements of the rental obligations are credited to proﬁt and loss over the periods of the leases and represent a constant 
proportion of the balance of capital repayments outstanding
rentals receivable under operating leases are credited to proﬁt and loss on a straight line basis over the lease term
financial liabilities
financial liabilities are obligations to pay cash or other ﬁnancial assets and are recognised when the group becomes a party to the 
contractual provisions of the instrument 
the group’s ﬁnancial liabilities include trade payables other payables bank overdraft bank loans and other loans these are classiﬁed 
as ﬁnancial liabilities measured at amortised cost
financial liabilities measured at amortised cost are initially recognised at fair values net of direct issue costs 
finance charges are charged to proﬁt and loss where applicable on an accruals basis using the effective interest method and are added 
to the carrying amount of the instrument to the extent they are not settled in the period in which they arose
a ﬁnancial liability is derecognised only when the obligation is extinguished that is when the obligation is discharged or cancelled or expires
equity settled sharebased payments
all sharebased payment arrangements granted after 7 november 2002 that had not vested prior to 1 january 2007 are recognised in the 
ﬁnancial statements
all goods and services received in exchange for the grant of any sharebased payment are measured at their fair values where employees 
are rewarded using sharebased payments the fair values of the instrument granted are determined using the blackscholes model this fair 
value is appraised at the grant date the fair value is charged to proﬁt and loss between the date of issue and the date the share options vest 
with a corresponding credit taken to equity
equity
equity comprises the following
 “share capital” represents the nominal value of equity shares
 “share premium” represents the excess over nominal value of the fair value of consideration received for equity shares net of expenses 
of the share issue and
 “retained earnings” represents non distributed reserves
standards and interpretations not yet effective
at the date of authorisation of these ﬁnancial statements certain new standards amendments and interpretations to existing standards 
have been published but are not yet effective and have not been adopted early by the group
management anticipates that all of the pronouncements will be adopted in the group’s accounting policy for the ﬁrst period beginning after 
the effective date of the pronouncement information on new standards amendments and interpretations that are expected to be relevant 
to the group’s ﬁnancial statements is provided below certain other new standards and interpretations have been issued but are not 
expected to have a material impact on the group’s ﬁnancial statements
business review governance financial statements symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
34
2 summary of signiﬁcant accounting policies continued
ifrs 9 financial instruments effective from 1 january 2015
the iasb aims to replace ias 39 financial instruments recognition and measurement in its entirety with the replacement standard to be 
effective for annual periods beginning 1 january 2015 ifrs 9 is the ﬁrst part of phase 1 of this project the main phases are
phase 1 classiﬁcation and measurement
phase 2 impairment methodology
phase 3 hedge accounting
in addition a separate project is dealing with derecognition management have yet to assess the impact that this amendment is likely to 
have on the ﬁnancial statements of the group however they do not expect to implement the amendments until all chapters of the ias 39 
replacement have been published and they can comprehensively assess the impact of all changes
consolidation standards 
a package of consolidation standards are effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 january 2013 information on these new 
standards is presented below 
 ifrs 10 consolidated financial statements ifrs 10 
ifrs 10 supersedes ias 27 consolidated and separate financial statements ias 27 and sic 12 consolidation – special purpose entities 
it revised the deﬁnition of control together with accompanying guidance to identify an interest in a subsidiary however the requirements 
and mechanics of consolidation and the accounting for any noncontrolling interests and changes in control remain the same 
 ifrs 11 joint arrangements ifrs 11 
ifrs 11 supersedes ias 31 interests in joint ventures ias 31 it aligns more closely the accounting by the investors with their rights and 
obligations relating to the joint arrangement in addition ias 31’s option of using proportionate consolidation for joint ventures has been 
eliminated ifrs 11 now requires the use of the equity accounting method which is currently used for investments in associates 
 ifrs 12 disclosure of interests in other entities ifrs 12 
ifrs 12 integrates and makes consistent the disclosure requirements for various types of investments including unconsolidated structured 
entities it introduces new disclosure requirements about the risks to which an entity is exposed from its involvement with 
structured entities 
 consequential amendments to ias 27 and ias 28 investments in associates and joint ventures ias 28 
ias 27 now only deals with separate ﬁnancial statements ias 28 brings investments in joint ventures into its scope however ias 28’s equity 
accounting methodology remains unchanged 
ifrs 13 fair value measurement ifrs 13 
ifrs 13 does not affect which items are required to be fairvalued but clariﬁes the deﬁnition of fair value and provides related guidance and 
enhanced disclosures about fair value measurements it is applicable for annual periods beginning on or after 1 january 2013
the group’s management have yet to assess the impact of these new standards
3 financial risk management
the main risks arising from the group’s ﬁnancial instruments are liquidity risk interest rate risk currency risk and credit risk the directors 
review and agree policies for managing each of these risks and they are summarised below these policies have remained unchanged from 
previous years 
the group’s ﬁnancial assets and liabilities are summarised as follows
2012  
£’000
2011 
£’000
financial assets
availableforsale – 15
loans and receivables 602 3908
602 3923
financial liabilities
financial liabilities measured at amortised cost 1349 1494
1349 1494
notes to the annual report and accounts continued symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 35
liquidity risk
the group seeks to manage ﬁnancial risk to ensure ﬁnancial liquidity is available to meet foreseeable needs and to invest cash assets safely 
and proﬁtably shortterm ﬂexibility is achieved through trade ﬁnance arrangements and overdrafts
the maturity of ﬁnancial liabilities as at 31 december 2012 is summarised as follows
gross cash ﬂows
trade 
payables 
and accruals 
£’000
finance 
leases  
£’000
loans  
£’000
bank  
£’000
total  
£’000
zero to sixty days 1016 3 219 279 1517
sixtyone days to three months –––––
four months to six months –4 – – 4
seven months to one year –7 – – 7
one year to three years –21 – –21
more than three years –––––
1016 35 219 279 1549
the maturity of ﬁnancial liabilities as at 31 december 2011 is summarised as follows
gross cash ﬂows
trade 
payables 
and accruals 
£’000
finance 
leases  
£’000
loans  
£’000
bank  
£’000
total  
£’000
zero to sixty days 1229 7 382 111 1729
sixtyone days to three months – 3 – – 3
four months to six months – 7 – – 7
seven months to one year – 21 – – 21
one year to three years – 24 – – 24
more than three years – 4 – – 4
1229 66 382 111 1788
interest rate risk
the group seeks to reduce its exposure to interest rate risk where possible but this is offset by the availability of trade ﬁnance arrangements 
which are transaction speciﬁc to meet liquidity needs and so have variable interest rate terms 
sensitivities have been looked at in the range of an absolute rate increase of 5 or a decrease of 1 which enable an objective calculation 
to be made depending on any interest rate changes in the future any rate changes would be outside the control of the company
the group’s exposure to interest rate risk as at 31 december 2012 is summarised as follows
fixed
£’000
variable
£’000
zero
£’000
total
£’000
cash and cash equivalents – 336 – 336
trade receivables – – 545 545
vat – – 92 92
other debtors 42 – 14 56
42 336 651 1029
trade payables – – 851 851
other payables – – 150 150
bank overdraft – 279 – 279
lease purchase 31 – – 31
other loans – 219 – 219
11 162 350 501
sensitivity increase in interest rates of 5 – 10 – 10
sensitivity decrease in interest rates of 1 –2 –2
business review governance financial statements symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
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36
3 financial risk management continued
the group’s exposure to interest rate risk as at 31 december 2011 is summarised as follows
fixed  
£’000
variable 
£’000
zero  
£’000
total  
£’000
cash and cash equivalents – 291 – 291
trade receivables – – 3524 3524
vat – – 67 67
other debtors – – 93 93
– 291 3684 3975
trade payables – – 1001 1001
other payables – – 238 238
bank overdraft – 111 – 111
lease purchase 56 – – 56
other loans – 382 – 382
56 202 2445 2187
sensitivity increase in interest rates of 5 – 10 – 10
sensitivity decrease in interest rates of 1 – 2 – 2
sensitivity shows the effect on equity proﬁt and loss
currency risk 
the group operates in overseas markets and is subject to currency exposure on transactions undertaken during the year the group hedges 
the transactions where possible by buying goods and selling them in the same currency the group also has bank facilities available for 
hedging purposes
a summary of foreign currency ﬁnancial assets and liabilities as stated in the statement of ﬁnancial position together with a sensitivity 
analysis showing the effect of a 10 change in rate with sterling is shown below
currency 
sterling  
2012  
£’000
currency 
balance  
2012  
’000
sterling  
2011  
£’000
currency 
balance  
2011  
’000
financial assets euro 143 €176 249 €298
financial liabilities euro 140 €172 91 €109
net balance euro 3€4 158 €189
effect of 10 sterling increase – 14
effect of 10 sterling decrease – 17
financial assets usd 735 1191 3840 5961
financial liabilities usd 538 874 526 817
net balance usd 197 317 3314 5144
effect of 10 sterling increase 20 301
effect of 10 sterling decrease 20 368
sensitivity shows the effect on equity and proﬁt and loss a 10 change is shown to enable an objective calculation to be made on exchange 
rates which may be assumed for the future
credit risk
the group’s exposure to credit risk is limited to the carrying value of ﬁnancial assets at the balance sheet date summarised as follows
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
loans and receivables
 trade receivables 545 3524
 finance lease receivables 42 38
 cash and cash equivalents 336 291
923 3853
the credit risk associated with the cash is limited as the counterparties have high credit ratings assigned by international creditrating 
agencies the principal credit risk arises therefore from trade receivables the seven largest customer balances at the end of the year make 
up 77 2011 82 of the above trade receivables
in order to manage credit risk the directors set limits for customers based on a combination of payment history third party credit references 
and use of credit insurance these limits are reviewed regularly
notes to the annual report and accounts continued symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 37
the maturity of overdue debts is set out in note 16 during the period debts totalling £88000 2011 £nil were written off 
capital requirements
interest bearing loans and borrowings are monitored regularly to ensure the group has sufﬁcient liquidity and its exposure to interest 
rate risk is mitigated management consider the capital of the group comprises the share capital and interest bearing loans and borrowings 
the company satisﬁes the companies act 2006 requirement to hold £50000 issued and authorised share capital the rule that 25 must 
be paid up is also satisﬁed by reference to note 18
4 critical accounting estimates and judgements
estimates and judgements are evaluated continually and are based on historical experience and other factors including expectations 
of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances although these estimates are based on management’s 
best knowledge of current events and actions actual results may ultimately differ from those actions
in preparing these accounts the following areas were considered to involve signiﬁcant judgement
recoverability of capitalised development cost
judgements relating to capitalised development costs are detailed in note 12
share option judgements
judgements relating to sharebased payment charges are detailed in note 18
going concern
judgements relating to going concern are detailed in note 2
in preparing these accounts the following areas were considered to involve signiﬁcant estimates
bad debts
provisions for bad debts are shown in note 16 bad debt provisions are made when there is objective evidence of impairment where there 
is no provision then it is due to adequate credit insurance being in place or cash has been received since the end of the year or adequate 
information exists to support the recoverability of the debt
recognition of deferred tax assets
estimates relating to a deferred tax asset are detailed in note 9a
5 segmental information
management currently identiﬁes the group’s two service lines as operating segments as further described in note 2 these operating 
segments are monitored and strategic decisions are made on the basis of adjusted segment operating results including oneoff items 
such as employee settlement costs
the segmental results for the year ended 31 december 2012 are as follows 
operating segments
twelve months to 31 december 2012
plastics 
£’000
recycling 
tech  
£’000
group  
£’000
segment revenues 4938 – 4938 
sharebased payments 17 – 17
apportioned costs 6671 272 6943
ebitda 1750 272 2022
depreciation and amortisation 161 – 161
interest 14 – 14
taxation 27 – 27
loss for the year 1952 272 2224
the segmental results for the year ended 31 december 2011 are as follows
operating segments
twelve months to 31 december 2011
plastics 
£’000
recycling 
tech  
£’000
group  
£’000
segment revenues 8542 – 8542 
sharebased payments 29 – 29
apportioned costs 7649 222 7871
ebitda 864 222 642
depreciation and amortisation 138 – 138
interest 88 – 88
taxation 104 – 104
proﬁtloss for the year 742 222 520
revenues stated are from external customers
there were no intersegment revenues for the above periods
business review governance financial statements symphony environmental  
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38
5 segmental information continued
there has been no change in total assets other than in the ordinary course of business 
segmental assets primarily consist of property plant and equipment intangible assets inventories trade and other receivables and cash 
and cash equivalents unallocated assets comprise availableforsale ﬁnancial assets
segmental liabilities comprise operating liabilities
the segment assets and liabilities at 31 december 2012 and capital expenditure for the year then ended are as follows
£’000 plastics
recycling 
tech unallocated group
assets 4348 480 – 4828
liabilities 1685 10 – 1695
capital expenditure 311 109 – 420
depreciation and amortisation 161 – – 161
the segment assets and liabilities at 31 december 2011 and capital expenditure for the year then ended are as follows
£’000 plastics
recycling 
tech unallocated group
assets 6967 370 15 7352
liabilities 2016 – – 2016
capital expenditure 436 91 – 527
depreciation and amortisation 138 – – 138
geographical areas
the group’s revenues from external customers and its noncurrent assets assets other than ﬁnancial instruments investments accounted 
for using the equity method deferred tax assets and postemployment beneﬁt assets are divided into the following geographical areas
geographical areas
2012  
£’000 
revenue
2012  
£’000 
noncurrent 
assets
2011  
£’000 
revenue
2011  
£’000 
noncurrent 
assets
uk 380 1833 363 1588
europe 996 – 1610 –
americas 2109 – 4621 –
other 1453 – 1948 –
total 4938 1833 8542 1588
major customers
within plastics two customers accounted for greater than 10 of total group revenues for 2012 2011 two customers one customer 
accounted for £888000 or 18 the other customer £623000 or 13 one customer accounted for £1240000 or 15 the other customer 
£881000 or 10 of total group revenues for 2011
6 operating lossproﬁt 
the operating lossproﬁt is stated after charging
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
depreciation 132 109
amortisation 29 29
loss on disposal of property plant and equipment – 2
research and development expenditure not capitalised 320 339
operating lease rentals
 land and buildings 118 111
 plant and equipment 6 6
fees payable to the company’s auditor for the audit of the ﬁnancial statements 11 10
fees payable to the company’s auditor for other services
 audit of the ﬁnancial statements of the company’s subsidiaries pursuant to legislation 26 26
 interim review 1 1
 other services relating to taxation 7 23
net foreign exchange loss 72 49
notes to the annual report and accounts continued symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 39
7 employee beneﬁt expense
2012 
£’000
2011 
£’000
wages and salaries 1867 1656
social security costs 234 209
other pension costs 55 157
2156 2022
average number of people employed
2012 2011
testing and technical 7 8
selling 8 8
administration 9 9
management 6 6
marketing 2 3
total average headcount 32 34
remuneration in respect of the directors was as follows
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
emoluments 845 746
pension contributions 29 147
874 893
key management remuneration
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
shortterm employee beneﬁts 845 746
postemployment beneﬁts 29 147
874 893
the directors are considered to be the key management personnel of the group further details on directors’ remuneration and share 
options are set out in the remuneration report
8 finance income and costs
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
interest income
 finance lease interest 6 2
total ﬁnance income 6 2
interest expense
 bank borrowings 4 8
 other interest 11 65
 finance charges 5 17
total ﬁnance costs 20 90
net ﬁnance costs 14 88
9  taxation
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
net deferred tax see note 9a 61 97
rd tax credit 34 7
total income tax chargecredit 27 104
no tax arises on the loss for the year
business review governance financial statements symphony environmental  
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annual report and  
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40
9  taxation continued
the tax assessed for the year is different from the standard rate of corporation tax in the uk of 24 2011 26 the differences are 
explained as follows
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
lossproﬁt for the year before tax 2197 416
tax calculated by rate of tax on the result 527 108
effective rate for year at 245 3m  26 and 9m  24 10 2
expenses not deductible for tax purposes 11 23
capital allowances in excess of depreciation – 48
depreciation in excess of capital allowances 6 –
tax losses utilised – 85
tax losses carried forward 520 –
movement in deferred income tax asset see note 9a 61 97
rd tax credit 34 7
total income tax credit 27 104
9a deferred income tax asset
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
deferred income tax asset brought forward 1277 1180
change in tax rate 102 24
notional tax charge – 108
recognised in the year 41 229
deferred income tax asset carried forward 1216 1277
the deferred tax asset relates to tax losses there are tax losses of approximately £12900000 2011 £11381000
of these tax losses a negative deferred tax adjustment of £61000 has been recognised in this year’s accounts 2011 positive £229000 
resulting in a total asset recognised of £1216000 2011 £1277000 there is a total potential tax asset of £2967000 using a rate of 23 
being the corporation tax rate parliament has set from 1 april 2013
the recognition of the deferred tax asset is based on sensitised forecasts judgements have been made in respect to continuation of proﬁtability 
going forward and estimates made in relation to the sensitivities of future sales and foreign exchange rates
10 lossearnings per share and dividends
the calculation of basic earnings per share is based on the lossproﬁt attributable to ordinary shareholders divided by the weighted average 
number of shares in issue during the year the calculation of diluted earnings per share is based on the basic earnings per share adjusted to 
allow for the issue of shares on the assumed conversion of all dilutive options and warrants
reconciliations of the proﬁt and weighted average numbers of shares used in the calculations are set out below
basic and diluted 2012 2011
lossproﬁt attributable to equity holders of the company £2224000 £520000
weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue 127907254 123853985
basic lossearnings per share 174 pence 042 pence
dilutive effect of weighted average options – 15441979 
total of weighted average shares together with dilutive effect of weighted options 127907954 139295964
diluted lossearnings per share 174 pence 037 pence
no dividends were paid for the year ended 31 december 2012 2011 £nil 
the effect of options in 2012 are antidilutive
18181570 options were outstanding at the end of the year which may become dilutive in future years 
notes to the annual report and accounts continued symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 41
11 property plant and equipment
plant  
machinery 
£’000
fixtures  
ﬁttings  
£’000
fixtures 
 ﬁttings 
elstree gate 
£’000
motor 
vehicles 
£’000
ofﬁce 
equipment 
£’000
total  
£’000
at 1 january 2011
cost 138 67 209 124 148 686
accumulated depreciation 63 52 16 64 29 224
net book amount 75 15 193 60 119 462
year ended 31 december 2011
opening net book amount 75 15 193 60 119 462
additions 247 – 7 19 7 280
disposals 46 – – 16 – 62
depreciation charge 31 4 21 16 37 109
eliminated on disposal 3 – – 12 – 15
closing net book amount 248 11 179 59 89 586
at 1 january 2012
cost 339 67 216 127 155 904
accumulated depreciation 91 56 37 68 66 318
net book amount 248 11 179 59 89 586
year ended 31 december 2012
opening net book amount 248 11 179 59 89 586
additions 34 – 20 – 5 59
disposals 15 – – – – 15
depreciation charge 52 3 23 14 40 132
eliminated on disposal 1 – – – – 1
closing net book amount 216 8 176 45 54 499
at 31 december 2012
cost 358 67 236 127 160 948
accumulated depreciation 142 59 60 82 106 449
net book amount 216 8 176 45 54 499
included within net book value of motor vehicles plant and machinery and ofﬁce equipment is £23000 2011 £47000 relating to assets 
held under ﬁnance leases and hire purchase contracts the depreciation charged to the ﬁnancial statements in the year in respect of such 
assets amounted to £12000 2011 £16000
business review governance financial statements symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
42
12 intangible assets
development 
costs  
£’000
trademarks 
£’000
total  
£’000
at 1 january 2011
cost 827 48 875
accumulated amortisation 68 23 91
net book amount 759 25 784
year ended 31 december 2011
opening net book amount 759 25 784
additions 242 5 247
amortisation charge 24 5 29
closing net book amount 977 25 1002
at 1 january 2012
cost 1069 53 1122
accumulated amortisation 92 28 120
net book amount 977 25 1002
year ended 31 december 2012
opening net book amount 977 25 1002
additions 355 6 361
amortisation charge 24 5 29
closing net book amount 1308 26 1334
at 31 december 2012
cost 1424 59 1483
accumulated amortisation 116 33 149
net book amount 1308 26 1334
the group relies on the continued development of its product range and in so doing is maintaining satisfactory goals in fulﬁlling its strategy 
see chairman’s statement and chief executive’s review after taking this into account together with the considerations of liquidity risk 
see note 3 the directors do not believe that there are any indicators of impairment
development costs are capitalised in accordance with the policy set out in note 2 in capitalising these costs judgements are made relating 
to ongoing feasibility and commerciality of products and systems being developed in making these judgements cashﬂow forecasts are 
used and these include signiﬁcant estimates in respect to sales forecasts and future foreign exchange rates 
13 subsidiary undertakings
principal subsidiaries
name country of incorporation nature of business 
proportion 
of ordinary 
shares held 
by parent
proportion 
of ordinary 
shares held 
by the group
symphony environmental limited england and wales supply of environmental polyoleﬁn products 
and ancillaries 100 100
symphony packaging limited england and wales dormant 0 100
d
2
w limited england and wales dormant 0 100
symphony plastics 2010 limited england and wales dormant 0 100
symphony recycling technologies limited england and wales development of recycling systems 100 100
elstree gate services limited england and wales dormant 100 100
symphony environmental jamaica limited jamaica dormant 0 100
all of the above subsidiaries are consolidated in the group ﬁnancial statements
notes to the annual report and accounts continued symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 43
14 available for sale ﬁnancial assets
all noncurrent
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
beginning and end of year – 15
the company holds 30 of the ordinary share capital of symphony bin hilal plastics llc a company incorporated in the united arab 
emirates the directors are of the opinion that this is an investment as the directors do not have signiﬁcant inﬂuence because they 
have no ﬁnancial or management control a full impairment has been made against this during the year due to limited availability 
of ﬁnancial information
the company holds 10 of the ordinary share capital of american plastic technologies plc a company incorporated in the united states 
of america the directors are of the opinion that this is an investment as the directors do not have signiﬁcant inﬂuence because they have 
no ﬁnancial or management control the investment in american plastics technologies plc is measured at cost less impairment charges 
as the fair value cannot be estimated readily the cost of this investment was £nil
the company holds c5 of the ordinary share capital of oxobioplast inc a company incorporated in the united states of america 
the directors are of the opinion that this is an investment as the directors do not have signiﬁcant inﬂuence because they have no ﬁnancial 
or management control the investment in oxobioplast inc is measured at cost less impairment charges as the fair value cannot be 
estimated readily the cost of this investment was £nil
there is no collateral on the above amounts
15 inventories
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
finished goods and goods for resale 637 399
the cost of inventories recognised as an expense and included in “cost of sales” amounted to £3001000 2011 £4052000 there is no 
provision for the impairment of inventories 2011 £nil
there is no collateral on the above amounts
16 trade and other receivables
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
loans and receivables
 trade receivables 545 3524
 receivables under ﬁnance leases 42 38
 other debtors 14 55
vat 92 67
prepayments 113 98
806 3782
the directors consider that the carrying value of trade and other receivables approximates to their fair values there is a provision of 
£349000 for the impairment of receivables 2011 £nil the maximum credit risk exposure at the balance sheet date equates to the 
fair value of trade receivables further disclosures are set out in note 3
included in trade receivables at 31 december 2012 are debtors which are past due but where no provision has been made as there has 
not been a change in the credit worthiness of these debtors and the amounts are considered recoverable as of 31 december 2012 trade 
receivables of £134000 2011 £556000 were past due and not impaired the ageing analysis of these trade receivables is as follows
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
more than three months but less than six months 76 220
more than six months but not more than one year 58 –
more than one year – 336
134 556
due to the different markets that the group operates in trade terms vary from cash on shipment of goods to payment under letter of credit 
due 150 days from shipment
trade receivables are secured against the facilities provided by the group’s bankers
lease agreements in which the other party as lessee is to be regarded as the economic owner of the leased assets give rise to accounts 
receivable in the amount of the discounted future lease payments these receivables amounted to £42000 as of 31 december 2012 
2011 £38000
business review governance financial statements symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
44
the receivables under ﬁnance leases for 2012 are as follows
£’000
total future 
payments
unearned 
interest 
income
present 
value
not later than one year 36 4 32
between one and ﬁve years 10 – 10
later than ﬁve years –––
as at 31 december 2012 46 4 42
the receivables under ﬁnance leases for 2011 were as follows
£’000
total future 
payments
unearned 
interest 
income
present 
value
not later than one year 16 3 13
between one and ﬁve years 27 2 25
later than ﬁve years –––
as at 31 december 2011 43 5 38
the leases which relate to d
2
detectors are typically cancellable after the ﬁrst six months and run for a period of two years the contracts 
include an option to purchase the leased equipment at any time between the initial sixmonth period and the full term of two years 
the purchase price lies between 33 and 75 of the gross investment at the inception of the lease resulting from the timing the option 
to purchase is exercised
17 cash and cash equivalents
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
loans and receivables
 cash at bank and in hand 336 291
the carrying amount of cash equivalents approximates to their fair values there is no collateral on the above amounts
18 equity
group and company group
ordinary  
shares  
number
ordinary 
shares  
£’000
share 
premium 
£’000
retained 
earnings 
£’000
total  
£’000
at 1 january 2011 117284577 1173 17 1863 3053
proﬁt for the year – – – 520 520
sharebased payments – – – 29 29
proceeds from shares issued 10559000 105 1629 – 1734
at 31 december 2011 127843577 1278 1646 2412 5336
at 1 january 2012 127843577 1278 1646 2412 5336
loss for the year – – – 2224 2224
sharebased payments – – – 17 17
proceeds from shares issued 150800 2 2 – 4
at 31 december 2012 127994377 1280 1648 205 3133
the total number of authorised 1p ordinary shares is 150000000 all issued ordinary shares are fully paid
proceeds from shares issued
the following ordinary shares were issued during the year
date
ordinary 
shares 
number details
consideration 
£
premium  
£
01 january 2012 800 prior year correction – –
06 august 2012 150000 exercise of options 3750 2250
notes to the annual report and accounts continued
16 trade and other receivables continued symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 45
share options
as at 31 december 2012 the group maintained an approved sharebased payment scheme for employee compensation for the options 
granted to vest the group must achieve an earnings per share in excess of 0001p and employees must serve a speciﬁed amount of time 
all sharebased employee compensation will be settled in equity the group has no legal or constructive obligation to repurchase or settle 
the options as at 31 december 2012 there were 4650000 staff options outstanding no staff options were issued in 2012 
the group has also issued unapproved share options approved and unapproved share options and weighted average exercise price are 
as follows for the reporting periods presented
number
2012 
weighted 
average 
exercise 
price 
£ number
2011 
weighted 
average 
exercise 
price 
£
outstanding at 1 january 18796500 006 20815960 006
exercised 150000 003 1823500 005
forfeitedlapsed 495000 022 195960 005
outstanding at 31 december 18151500 006 18796500 006
the weighted average share price at the date options were exercised was 5p 2011 16p 
the number of share options exercisable at 31 december 2012 was 18151500 2011 16196500 the weighted average exercise price 
of those shares exercisable was 6p 2011 6p 
the weighted average option contractual life is ten years 2011 ten years and the range of exercise prices is 275p to 12p 2011 275p to 37p
directors
directors’ interests in shares and share incentives are contained in the remuneration report
ifrs2 expense
there is an ifrs sharebased charge for the year of £17000 2011 £29000
fair value of options granted 
the fair values of options granted were determined using the blackscholes pricing model that takes into account factors speciﬁc to the 
share incentive plans the following principal assumptions were used in the valuation during 2011 no options were granted in 2012
2011
weighted average exercise price £011
calculated volatility 12
expected life 2–6 years
average riskfree rate 350
expected dividends 0
the underlying expected volatility was determined by reference to historical data of the group’s shares over a period of time since 2005 
being the year the group changed strategy from being a supplier of ﬁnished products to one of development and supply of additives 
no special features inherent to the options granted were incorporated into measurement of fair value
19 trade and other payables
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
current
financial liabilities measured at amortised cost
 trade payables 851 1001
other creditors 11 134
social security and other taxes 139 104
accruals and deferred income 165 228
1166 1467
fair value is not materially different to book value there is no collateral on the above amounts
business review governance financial statements symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
46
20 interest bearing loans and borrowings
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
noncurrent
finance lease liabilities 20 31
20 31
current
financial liabilities measured at amortised cost
 bank overdraft 279 111
 other loans 219 382
finance lease liabilities 11 25
509 518
the bank overdraft of £279000 2011 £111000 is included within the cashﬂow statement within cash and cash equivalents
other loans include
an amount due relating to the invoice ﬁnancing facility totalling £219000 2011 £382000 interest is charged at 241 over hsbc bank plc 
base rate per annum
commitments under ﬁnance leases and hire purchase agreements mature as follows
gross  
2012  
£’000
gross  
2011  
£’000
net  
2012  
£’000
net  
2011  
£’000
amounts payable within one year 14 31 11 25
amounts payable between one and two years 18 14 17 11
amounts payable between three and ﬁve years 3 21 3 20
35 66 31 56
the ﬁnance leases are for the purchase of sundry equipment and motor vehicles note 11
there is no collateral on the above amounts except for ﬁnance lease liabilities which are secured against the asset that they ﬁnance
21 net cash generatedused from operations
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
lossproﬁt after tax 2224 520 
adjustments for
 depreciation 132 109
 amortisation 29 29
 loss on disposal – 2
 sharebased payments 17 29
 impairment of ﬁnancial asset 16 –
 tax chargecredit 27 104
 interest expense 20 90
changes in working capital
 inventories 238 118
 trade and other receivables 2936 853
 trade and other payables 301 102
cash generatedused from operations 414 194
22 commitments
the future aggregate minimum lease payments under noncancellable operating leases are as follows
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
no later than one year 126 115
later than one year and no later than ﬁve years 297 259
423 374
notes to the annual report and accounts continued symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 47
23 post balance sheet events
there have been no signiﬁcant post balance sheet events
24 capital management
the group’s capital management objectives are
 to ensure the group’s ability to continue as a going concern and
 to provide an adequate return to shareholders by pricing products and services commensurately with the level of risk
the group monitors capital on the basis of the carrying amount of equity less cash and cash equivalents as presented on the face of the 
statement of ﬁnancial position
the group’s goal in capital management is to maintain a capitaltooverall ﬁnancing ratio of 11 to 13 
the group sets the amount of capital in proportion to its overall ﬁnancing structure ie equity and ﬁnancial liabilities the group manages 
the capital structure and makes adjustments to it in the light of changes in economic conditions and the risk characteristics of the underlying 
assets in order to maintain or adjust the capital structure the group may adjust the amount of dividends paid to shareholders return capital 
to shareholders issue new shares or sell assets to reduce debt
capital for the reporting periods under review is summarised as follows 
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
total equity 3133 5336
cash and cash equivalents 336 291
capital 2797 5045
total equity 3133 5336
borrowings 529 549
overall ﬁnancing 3662 5885
capitaltoﬁnancing ratio 076 086
the ratiodecrease during 2012 is a result of the loss for the year the group will aim to improve the capitaltoﬁnance ratio during 2013 
by increasing sales where possible to new emerging markets coupled with the strengthening of the product portfolio
25 capital commitments
the group had capital commitments totalling £33000 at the end of the year 2011 £20000 
the following pages contain the balance sheet and accompanying notes for the parent company prepared under uk gaap
business review governance financial statements symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
48
note
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
fixed assets
tangible assets 27 24 32
investments 28 2150 2150
2174 2182
current assets
debtors 29 1900 1929
cash at bank and in hand – 19
1900 1948
creditors amounts falling due within one year 30 61 234
net current assets 1839 1714
total assets less current liabilities 4013 3896
creditors amounts falling due after more than one year 31 11 11
4002 3885
capital and reserves
share capital 34 1280 1278
share premium account 35 1648 1646
proﬁt and loss account 35 1074 961
4002 3885
the company has applied the exemption under section 408 of the companies act 2006 not to present a proﬁt and loss account for the year 
ended 31 december 2012 there are no recognised gains or losses other than its proﬁt for the year as detailed in note 36
these ﬁnancial statements were approved by the directors on 26 march 2013 and are signed on their behalf by
i bristow fcca
finance director
the accompanying notes form an integral part of these ﬁnancial statements
company balance sheet
at 31 december 2012
company number 3676824 symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 49
26 principal accounting policies
basis of accounting
the company ﬁnancial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with united kingdom 
generally accepted accounting practice gaap
fixed assets
tangible ﬁxed assets are stated at cost net of depreciation and any provision for impairment
depreciation is calculated so as to write off the cost of an asset less its estimated residual value over the useful economic life of that 
asset as follows
plant and machinery – 20 reducing balance
fixtures and ﬁttings – 25 reducing balance
motor vehicles – 20 reducing balance
ofﬁce equipment – 25 straight line
leasing and hire purchase commitments
assets held under ﬁnance leases which are leases where substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership of the asset have passed to the 
company and hire purchase contracts are capitalised in the balance sheet and are depreciated over their useful lives the capital elements 
of future obligations under the leases and hire purchase contracts are included as liabilities in the balance sheet
the interest elements of the rental obligations are charged in the proﬁt and loss account over the periods of the leases and hire purchase 
contracts and represent a constant proportion of the balance of capital repayments outstanding
rentals payable under operating leases are charged in the proﬁt and loss account on a straight line basis over the lease term
pension costs
company pensions are operated within the group pension scheme the group operates a deﬁned contribution pension scheme for 
employees the assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the group the annual contributions payable in respect to the 
company are charged to the proﬁt and loss account
deferred taxation
deferred tax is recognised in respect of all timing differences that have originated but not reversed at the balance sheet date where 
transactions or events have occurred at that date that will result in an obligation to pay more or a right to pay less or to receive more tax 
with the following exception deferred tax assets are recognised only to the extent that the directors consider that it is more likely than 
not that there will be suitable taxable proﬁts from which the future reversal of the underlying timing differences can be deducted
deferred tax is measured on an undiscounted basis at the tax rates that are expected to apply in the periods in which timing differences 
reverse based on tax rates and laws enacted or substantively enacted at the balance sheet date
foreign currencies
monetary assets and liabilities in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rates of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date 
transactions in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rate of exchange ruling at the date of the transaction exchange 
differences are taken into account in arriving at the operating proﬁt
investments
investments are included at cost less amounts written off
financial instruments
financial liabilities and equity instruments are classiﬁed according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into an equity 
instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the entity after deducting all of its ﬁnancial liabilities
where the contractual obligations of the ﬁnancial instruments including share capital are equivalent to a similar debt instrument those 
ﬁnancial instruments are classiﬁed as ﬁnancial liabilities financial liabilities are presented as such in the balance sheet finance costs are 
calculated so as to produce a constant rate of return on the outstanding liability
where the contractual terms of share capital do not have any terms meeting the deﬁnition of a ﬁnancial liability then this is classiﬁed 
as an equity instrument dividends and distributions relating to equity instruments are debited direct to equity
equitysettled sharebased payments
all sharebased payment arrangements granted after 7 november 2002 that had not vested prior to 1 january 2007 are recognised in the 
ﬁnancial statements
all goods and services received in exchange for the grant of any sharebased payment are measured at their fair values where employees 
are rewarded using sharebased payments the fair values are determined by reference to the fair value of the instrument granted to the 
employee this fair value is appraised at the grant date and excludes the impact of nonmarket vesting conditions the fair value is charged 
to the proﬁt and loss account between the date of issue and the date the share options vest with a corresponding credit taken to 
shareholders’ funds
notes to the company balance sheet
business review governance financial statements symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
50
27 tangible ﬁxed assets
plant  
machinery 
£’000
motor 
vehicles 
£’000
total  
£’000
cost
at 1 january 2012 and 31 december 2012 27 58 85
depreciation
at 1 january 2012 18 35 53
charge for the year 268
at 31 december 2012 20 41 61
net book value
at 31 december 2012 71724
at 31 december 2011 92332
included within the net book value of £24000 is £10000 2011 £13000 relating to assets held under ﬁnance leases and hire purchase 
contracts the depreciation charged to the ﬁnancial statements in the year in respect of such assets amounted to £3000 2011 £4000
28 investments 
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
shares in group undertakings
at beginning and end of the year 2150 2150
group undertakings are detailed in note 13
29 debtors 
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
amounts owed by group undertakings 1891 1913
vat 2 7
prepayments 7 9
1900 1929
30 creditors amounts falling due within one year 
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
trade creditors 9 31
other taxation and social security – 16
amounts due under ﬁnance leases and hire purchase agreements 3 2
other creditors – 134
accruals 49 51
61 234
31 creditors amounts falling after more than one year 
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
amounts due under ﬁnance leases and hire purchase agreements 8 11
amounts owed to group undertakings 3 –
11 11
32 commitments under ﬁnance leases and hire purchase agreements 
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
amounts payable within one year 3 2
amounts payable between one and two years 8 3
amounts payable between three and ﬁve years – 8
11 13
notes to the company balance sheet continued symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 51
33  contingent liabilities
the company has guaranteed all monies due to its bankers by symphony environmental limited symphony recycling technologies limited 
and symphony plastics 2010 limited at 31 december 2012 the net indebtedness of these companies amounted to £nil 2011 £nil 
34 share capital
the company’s share capital is detailed in note 18
35 reserves 
share 
premium 
account 
£’000
proﬁt 
and loss 
 account 
£’000
at 1 january 2012 1646 961
retained proﬁt for the year – 113
new equity share capital subscribed 2–
at 31 december 2012 1648 1074
36 parent company own accounts
symphony environmental technologies plc has not presented its own proﬁt and loss account and related notes as permitted by section 408 
of the companies act 2006 the proﬁt for the ﬁnancial year dealt with in the ﬁnancial statements of the parent company is £113000 
2011 proﬁt £100000
37 directors and employees
all employees of symphony environmental technologies plc are directors see note 7 of the group consolidated accounts 
the average number of staff employed by the company during the ﬁnancial year amounted to
2012  
no
2011  
no
management 3 3
the aggregate payroll costs of the above were
2012  
£’000
2011  
£’000
wages and salaries 85 85
social security costs 10 10
95 95
the company has taken advantage of the frs8 exemption that allows intragroup transactions with a 100 subsidiary to not be disclosed
there were no other related party transactions throughout the period
business review governance financial statements symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
52
notes  printed on lumisilk 300gsm cover 170gsm 
pages 1–24 and 150gsm pages 25–52 
lumisilk is an fscrecognised paper 
produced from wellmanaged forests 
and recycled wood or ﬁbre this publication 
was printed with vegetable oilbased inks 
by an fscrecognised printer that holds an 
iso 14001 certiﬁcation
company registration number
3676824
registered ofﬁce
6 elstree gate
elstree way
borehamwood
hertfordshire
wd6 1jd
tel 44 020 8207 5900
fax 44 020 8207 7632
email infosymphonyenvironmentalcom
directors
n j deva dl frsa mep
nonexecutive chairman
m n laurier
chief executive ofﬁcer
i bristow fcca
finance director 
m stephen llm
commercial director and deputy chairman
m f stephens
technical director
n clavel
nonexecutive director
secretary
i bristow
nominated adviser and broker
cantor fitzgerald europe
1 america square
17 crosswall
london
ec3n 2ls
bankers
hsbc bank plc
103 station road 
edgware
middlesex
ha8 7jj
solicitors
olswang
90 high holborn
london
wc1v 6xx
auditor
grant thornton uk llp
chartered accountants
registered auditors
grant thornton house
202 silbury boulevard
central milton keynes
mk9 1lw
registrars
capita registrars limited
the registry
34 beckenham road
beckenham
kent
br3 4tu wwwsymphonyenvironmentalcom


Summary:
 symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
10
chief executive’s review
the year under review can be divided into 
two parts the ﬁrst being the ﬁnancial and 
the second the commercial as to the ﬁrst 
a reduction in revenues together with a 
substantial trading loss was recorded the cause 
for this exceptional result following a proﬁt trend 
was a delay in expected sales from markets 
where we could see a process of legislative 
change albeit not implemented and a change 
in operating policies the change in operating 
policies led to a signiﬁcant reduction of 
receivables and also stocks held by the distributor 
network this resulted in an improved working
capital cycle and a reduced exposure to credit 
risk the cash generated from this strategy was 
£045 million and this was reinvested into 
product research and development 
on the second part the commercial we 
achieved considerable success the foundations 
were created to increase revenues and a move 
back into proﬁtability during 2013 in the period 
new products new markets and new territories 
were identiﬁed and established laboratory 
trials for new products in our d
2
w d
2
p and d
2
t 
technologies showed encouraging results which 
led to several lengthy commercial trials with end 
user corporations which are still ongoing 
the technical and marketing team were active 
throughout the year by focusing politicians’ and 
consumers’ attention to the beneﬁt of plastics 
with d
2
w inside this activity was supported by 
the lifecycleanalysis that was commissioned 
by us and issued by intertek in may 2012 we 
believe that the results of these actions will 
encourage countries to look at the d
2
w oxo
biodegradable option rather than ban or restrict 
the use of plastics altogether pakistan and the 
uae have changed legislation in favour of our 
type of oxobiodegradable technology and 
others have also followed this course the 
symphony technical team has been active in 
many ways and in particular are committee 
members in most of the main standards 
organisations such as astm bsi and iso 
symphony cares for the environment and the planet that we 
are leaving for future generations
plastic products containing symphony’s d 2w are recyclable 
reuseable and biodegradable
providing quality 
products and service symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
 11
business review governance financial statements
this strategy helps to ensure that our type of 
technologies are recognised and supported 
additionally we continue to extend our market 
reach and the global distribution network 
expanded to 72 2011 67 during 2012
the symphony recycling division also made 
some positive steps forward and continues to 
develop its recycling technologies the rupert 
project was successfully completed in 
december 2012
operationally the following was achieved  
during 2012
 accreditation to iso14001
 opening of our development facility in  
telford uk
 launch of our d
2
p antifungal technologies 
at the international bakery show iba2012 in 
munich following successful laboratory trials
 launch of our d
2
t 
anticounterfeiting technologies
trading results
total group revenues were lower at £494 million 
2011 £854 million group gross proﬁt margins 
reduced from 54 to 44 these factors 
resulted in a 53 decrease in the contribution 
from gross proﬁt from £459 million in 2011 
to £215 million in 2012 gross margins were 
reduced due to the sales mix leaning towards 
the lower value areas while the higher value 
regions reduced their local stock levels
sales to the americas reduced from £462 
million in 2011 to £211 million in 2012 and 
represented 43 of 2012 revenues 2011 54 
this was the main area where stocks and 
receivables were high at the end of 2011 and so 
suffered as a result of the change in operating 
policies our primary markets in this sector 
are mexico and brazil 
sales to uk and europe reduced from £197 
million in 2011 to £138 million in 2012 and 
represented 28 of 2012 revenues 2011 23 
this includes sales to italy which was strong in 
2011 but confused packaging legislation in the 
country led to reduced volumes in 2012 
sales to the rest of the world reduced from 
£195 million in 2011 to £145 million in 2012 and 
represented 29 of 2012 revenues 2011 23 
territories include the uae which also had high 
stocks at the end of 2011 
total expenses increased to £421 million 2011 
£390 million which included provisions against 
receivables of £039 million 2011 £nil total 
staff costs were marginally higher at £216 
million 2011 £202 million and directors’ 
emoluments reduced to £087 million in 2012 
from £089 million in 2011
the group made an operating loss of £218 
million compared with an operating proﬁt of 
£050 million in 2011 resulting in the group’s 
loss before tax of £220 million compared with 
a proﬁt before tax of £042 million in 2011 
development costs of £036 million were 
capitalised in 2012 2011 £024 million the net 
book value of capitalised development costs at 
the end of the year amounted to £131 million 
further development expenditure of £032 
million 2011 £034 million was charged directly 
to proﬁt and loss capitalised development costs 
represent 9 of expenses as detailed above 
within the total amount of £131 million 
capitalised to date are £048 million relating to 
symphony recycling technologies £025 million 
relating to d
2
w products which have been 
developed and are being sold and the balance 
of £058 million relating to further environmental 
plastic applications still in development and 
where we believe signiﬁcant revenues will be 
generated in the foreseeable future symphony environmental  
technologies plc
annual report and  
accounts 2012
12
the group reports a loss for the year of £222 
million with basic loss per share of 174 pence 
2011 earnings per share 042 pence 
the group’s primary selling currency is the 
us dollar the group hedges where possible 
by purchasing in us dollars and has banking 
facilities in place in order to secure rates going 
forward as at 31 december 2012 the group 
had a net balance of us dollar assets totalling 
032 million 2011 514 million 
segmental analysis
the group operates two divisions which are 
classiﬁed as segments in the ﬁnancial report 
being the plastics division and the recycling 
technologies division 
the plastics division includes revenues 
associated with d
2
w d
2
p and d
2
detector 
be they additives or ﬁnished products the 
plastics division which currently makes up 
all group revenues saw d
2
w additive volumes 
decrease by 40 during the year with d
2
w 
revenues reducing to £494 million 2011 
£854 million due to delays in expected orders 
and changes in operating polices as stated 
above this together with the fall in gross 
margins and increased administrative 
expenses resulted in an ebitda loss of 
£175 million in 2012 compared to a proﬁt 
of £086 million in 2011 
the recycling technologies division has no 
revenues to date and saw expenditure of 
£027 million for the year resulting in an 
ebitda loss of the same amount 2011 
expenditure and ebitda loss £022 million
cashﬂow
the group generated £045 million from 
operations 2011 cash consumed £019 
million this was due to a change in operating 
policies which led to stricter stock and 
receivables controls within the distribution 
network the group has a £1 million trade 
ﬁnance facility with hsbc bank plc which 
was drawn down to £022 million as at 
31 december 2012 drawn down to £038 
million at 31 december 2011 which is used 
to manage group working capital
in addition to development costs detailed 
above £004 million was invested in plant 
and equipment representing continued 
investment in a development centre in telford 
uk together with other laboratory equipment 
and facilities a total of £006 million was 
spent on property plant and equipment 
in 2012 2011 £028 million
symphony recycling technologies 
the rupert tyre recycling project was 
successfully completed in december 2012 
the group continues to invest in and is 
actively pursuing commercial outlets in early 
2013 we launched the symtyres300 tyre 
reduction machine we anticipate that this 
will generate revenues in the short term 
and also open the way for commercialisation 
of future developments as and when they 
come on stream
outlook
2013 has started strongly with sales showing 
a 100 improvement from the same period 
last year our main established markets are 
reporting tight stock levels and steady to 
increasing sales momentum the new 
markets for d
2
w have provided encouraging 
sales projections and marketing activity 
information they have also started 
placing orders 
the pakistan legislation prohibiting plastics 
which are not oxobiodegradable comes 
into effect in april 2013 this follows similar 
legislation previously passed in the united 
arab emirates and recently extended from 2 
products to 15 these changes to legislation 
are expected to be signiﬁcant not only in 
terms of the local markets which are 
chief executive’s review 
continued