News

Biome’s Bioplastics division (www.biomebioplastics.com) announces that it has secured £248,000 via a further funding contract to complete the development phase and reach commercial production of its biodegradable tree shelter project. This follows the Company’s successful completion of an initial feasibility study to develop and test a new generation of biodegradable tree shelters to be made from the Company’s novel bioplastics.

This additional funding has come from the Government-backed Innovate UK agency as part of the Sustainable Innovation Fund (SBRI Phase 2) and will support a significant increase in project activity and facilitate further extensive laboratory testing of materials and UK-wide field trials with potential end-customers for the novel biodegradable tree shelters.
In the UK, around 45 million trees are planted each year, most of those using non-biodegradable tree shelters for protection, with an estimated 2,500 tons of persistent plastics ending up annually in the natural environment after use. Plans to significantly increase tree planting as part of the UK’s drive to mitigate climate change will exacerbate these problems. This project aims to curb such unnecessary levels of plastic pollution with a product that biodegrades in-situ after use.

The project continues in close partnership with Suregreen, a leading manufacturer of tree shelters, whose team has broad experience in the manufacture and sales of such products. Suregreen will involve its forestry customers in product assessment of the biodegradable tree shelters.

Paul Mines, Biome Technologies’ Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“This additional funding will help accelerate both the laboratory and ‘real-world’ testing of this exciting new product, moving it a step closer to large scale commercialisation.”

Investors can find more details on this project’s scientific approach and its future path to prospective commercialisation in a short video on the Bioplastics division’s website: https://biomebioplastics.com/tree-shelter/.

Biome announces that it has signed the SME Climate Commitment which has been designed specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises to align their operations with the latest climate science. By making the SME Climate Commitment, Biome will be recognised by the United Nations’ Race to Zero campaign, which is aimed at achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Biome joins a wide range of governments, businesses, cities, regions, and universities around the world that share the same mission.

Climate change risks pose threats to ecosystems, societies, markets and to companies and a globally coordinated response is needed to mitigate and manage those risks. Biome is committed to taking action, supporting the growing drive to a net zero carbon economy and being at the forefront of growth and the development of a truly sustainable plastics industry through its Bioplastics division.

Biome is now making this public commitment to accelerate its actions in order to:

• Halve its greenhouse gas emissions before 2030
• Achieve net zero emissions before 2050
• Disclose progress on a yearly basis

Biome will commence reporting on progress towards achieving the commitment to Race to Zero beginning with its Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31 December 2021.

Biome’s public commitment has been made through the SME Climate Hub, more details of which can be found here: https://smeclimatehub.org/

Paul Mines, Biome Technologies’ Chief Executive Officer, commented:

“This is an important public commitment that will over time highlight Biome’s everyday actions in production and development in driving its products, operations and extended supply chain to net zero carbon emissions.”

Biome Technologies plc, a leading bioplastics and radio frequency technology business, today provides an unaudited pre-close trading update for the financial year ended 31 December 2020.

Group revenues for the year ended 31 December 2020 were broadly in line with market expectations at £5.7m (2019: £6.9m) following strong annual revenue growth of 65% in the Bioplastics division.

Cash balances at the year-end were £1.7m, following the net £1m equity fundraising announced in September 2020 (30 September 2020: £0.9m).

The Board anticipates that, subject to completion of the audit process, the Group will generate a loss before interest, taxation, depreciation, amortisation and share option charges for the year ended 31 December 2020, which will be in line with current market expectations.

The Group’s preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2020 are scheduled to be published on 25 March 2021.

Read more in the RNS here