Plant Impact yet to bloom

Shareholders are still waiting for crop productivity firm Plant Impact to bloom as it continues to trade at a loss.

The company, which is now focused on environmentally friendly nutrition products to help farmers get the best yield from crops, says revenues in the 12 months to the end of March were £1.93m versus £1.62m in the previous year, slightly ahead of market expectations of £1.90m. This was despite the company again accruing zero revenue from Bug Oil, the natural-oil based insecticide which used to be the focus of the company's commercial strategy.

The problem for Plant Impact has been expenses, which grew to £3.37m against £3.11m in the prior year, although the firm claims this includes £0.475m in exceptional restructuring costs.

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The loss before tax came in at £1.96m, down slightly on the previous year's £2.05m loss, and in line with expectations.

Although Plant Impact clearly has big plans for the future, including a move to new facilities in Hertfordshire in September which will put it close to other UK agrochemical, seed and life science companies, the market still appears wary on future prospects.

The group has not yet achieved its primary goal of achieving "cash self-sufficiency" and has reined in its global ambitions to focus primarily on Northern Europe, including the UK.

The results initially saw the stock drop 1.9%, leaving the shares down 50% in the last 12 months. With major customer agrochemical giant Arysta LifeScience sitting on a 9.1% share stake in Plant Impact the concern for long-suffering shareholders must be that any signs of the company becoming profitable will result in its intellectual property being picked up on the cheap in a takeover.

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