Symphony Environmental Tech Plc (LON:SYM) is currently a £17m market capitalisation AIM listed company which specialises in developing and marketing d2w additive to plastic manufacturers and commercial end-users to ensure the biodegradability of plastic in the environment. The degree and speed of biodegradability can be ‘programmed’ into the plastic manufacturing process. The d2w additive is building brand-recognition worldwide. The company has also created d2p anti-microbial additive which has many applications, particularly in the healthcare and food industries. Symphony does not manufacture products itself, but has subcontracted the work to specially selected and audited factories around the world - to maximise security and flexibility of supply.
To find out more, we met recently with Michael Laurier, CEO and Founder of Symphony at their new offices in Borehamwood.
Pleasure to meet you, Michael. Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you came into the business?
Yes, I was born and bred in packaging; my grandfather started in 1920 with a natural product called jute - or burlap as some people may know it, and that’s why I’ve got quite a lot of knowledge about how good or how bad are long-life shopping bags made from burlap products. The business evolved and in my father’s time went into plastics. In my turn I looked for ways to improve plastic and found degradable technology. So it’s evolved since the 1920s, although Symphony as the company known today was established in 1995.
Can you talk us through the evolution of the company?
Yes, Symphony was set up in 1995 and we floated on the OFEX market in 2000 and on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in November 2001. Since that date, we’ve been investing seriously into degradable plastic technology and also creating the market opportunity for the technology - which we describe as d2w - with a logo that looks like a water droplet. This is now the international symbol that appears on thousands of tonnes of degradable plastic packaging and shows that it’s an eco friendly product. A good example in the UK might be if you were to go into a newsagent or supermarket and look at the newspapers and magazines, where you’ll find the little d2w logo on the plastic wrap, with an environmental message. So it’s through this sort of example that…
