Previously listed as Yule Catto under the ticker YULC, changes it's name to Synthomer which is considered to be a more recognisable corporate name globally.

"Synthomer is one of the world’s major suppliers of latices and speciality emulsion polymers supporting leadership positions in many market segments including coatings, construction, textiles, paper and synthetic latex gloves. The company has its headquarters in Harlow, UK and provides customer focused services from operational centres in Marl, Germany and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia."

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StockMarketWire.com
Synthomer said its 2012 trading and profitability were in line with management's view and that it sees underlying pretax profit ahead of 2011's pro-forma £96 million.

"Demand in Europe has remained subdued during the fourth quarter and this continues to be most evident in construction related areas," the company said.

"In Asia and rest of the world, the non-nitrile business continues to perform strongly, whilst the nitrile business has performed in line with our expectations as set out in the Group's interim results in August," the company said.

Synergies from the acquisition of PolymerLatex remained on track to deliver £19 million in 2012, a £16 million year-on-year improvement over 2011.

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Synthomer booked a 2.2% rise in its full-year pretax profit to £98.1 million, from £96.0 million, which it described as a resilient performance despite challenging conditions.

The result followed sales of £1.11 billion, from £1.27 billion, the company said, upping its total dividend per share to 5.5p, up 57.15 from the prior year's 3.5p.

"Synthomer delivered a resilient performance in 2012, against challenging market conditions," said the British-based chemicals business CEO Adrian Whitfield.

"In Europe, we continued to manage our margins and deliver the synergies arising from the PolymerLatex acquisition. In Asia, our non-nitrile business performed well this year, while the difficult conditions seen in our nitrile business have stabilised and our long term prospects in this area remain strong," he said.

Synthomer had made a solid start to the year, but still expected the macro-economic environment in Europe to continue to result in challenging trading conditions through 2013.

"Our expectations for the Asian Nitrile market remain unchanged, with improvements expected from the end of this year. With our non-nitrile capacity in Asia fully utilised, we will continue to invest in capacity in emerging markets to build our platform for future growth beyond 2013," Whitfield said.

"We expect demand growth in our emerging markets to remain strong and overall the board remains confident in the Group's long-term prospects and strategy."

Synthomer downgraded by Merrill Lynch

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Bank of America Merrill Lynch has downgraded its recommendation on small cap speciality polymer producer Synthomer (LON:SYNT) to "neutral" from "buy" in a wider European chemicals research note today. The City broker has reduced its price target by 12 per cent to 220 pence per share (previously 250 pence) given its view of the increased risks from pricing in key product areas. Separately, Jefferies initiated coverage with a "hold" recommendation and 225 pence per share price target in a note to investors last week.

AGM and Interim Management Statement

Synthomer plc ("Synthomer" or "the Group") today issues its Interim Management Statement for the period 1 January to 16 May 2013.

Trading
After the Group's solid start to the year, demand in Europe was weaker than anticipated during March and April. While trading in Asia has been ahead of expectations in the year-to-date, volumes and profits for the Group overall were lower against a strong performance in the same period in 2012.

Since Synthomer's last update in March, the macro-economic environment in Europe has remained challenging and this has continued to impact demand. Our Europe and North America (ENA) business experienced 7% year-on-year volume declines in March and April. Weakness continued to be most evident in construction and related areas, in part due to the adverse weather conditions.

In Asia and Rest of the World, trading has been ahead of our expectations and demand across all business areas remains strong. Nitrile has outperformed our expectations and we now expect full year nitrile operating profit to be ahead of 2012. Our non-nitrile businesses have continued to trade well, with the benefits of strong demand restricted only by the capacity constraints we currently face in Asia.

The Group's additional 70,000 tonnes of nitrile capacity, completed at the end of 2012, is now operational, and our plans to bring SBR latex capability on stream in Malaysia during the second half of the year remain on track.

The Group's financial position remains robust, with net debt slightly higher over the first 4 months reflecting the higher levels of capital expenditure anticipated for the year, and the normal seasonal working capital outflow.

Outlook
Continued weakness in the macro-economic environment in Europe has resulted in challenging trading conditions for our business and, given the performance of our ENA business in March and April, we remain cautious about the outlook for the year. We are encouraged by the progress being made in our Asian business, with demand growth remaining strong and improved nitrile market dynamics. The Board expects this relative strength in Asia will partially offset the weakness being seen in Europe.

Synthomer will announce its Interim Results on Tuesday 13th August 2013.

StockMarketWire.com
Synthomer's first-half pretax profit slipped 10.3% to £48.6 million, from £54.2 million, in what it described as a solid performance in challenging market conditions.

Its interim dividend was 2.4p a share, up 9.1% from 2.2p.

The company said its performance in Europe was impacted by on-going weak demand, particularly in construction related areas, reflecting the current macro environment.

However, growth in Asia and the rest of the world was driven by continuing strong nitrile demand growth and modest recovery in unit margins from H2 2012 levels.

Net debt was reduced to £151.7 million, from £174.2 million.

"Synthomer has delivered a solid performance in the first half of 2013, in line with expectations," said CEO Adrian Whitfield.

"Business in Europe has remained challenging, with a continuation of the weak demand trends seen in the second half of 2012 reflecting the current economic environment," Whitfield said.

"In Asia, the performance of our nitrile business has been encouraging, with the pace of recovery being faster than originally anticipated. We have seen good demand growth and a modest improvement in margins from the low levels we saw over most of last year," he added.

Whitfield said that, for the remainder of the year, absent any recovery in demand in Europe, the "board expects that our European business profitability will be somewhat lower than the first half, largely reflecting the impact of normal seasonal factors.

"The Asia and ROW business is expected to operate at a similar level to the first half."

StockMarketWire.com
Jefferies has upgraded its recommendation on Synthomer (LON:SYNT) to "buy" from "hold" seeing the shares as cheap against the backdrop of an improving European macro outlook which should feed through to a recovery in the Asian nitrile market as demand grows. The City broker has increased its price target by almost 40 per cent to 305 pence per share (previously 220 pence). Earnings per share estimates have been pegged back slightly to 20.2 pence (from 21.1 pence) for 2013, to 22 pence (from 23.3 pence) for 2014 and to 24.2 pence (from 24.8 pence) for 2015. Similarly, pre-tax profit forecasts have been trimmed to £91.9 million (from £97.3 million) for 2013, to £98.7 million (from £107.2 million) for 2014 and to £106.8 million (from £113.9 million) for 2015.

StockMarketWire.com
Synthomer said in an IMS for the period July 1 to Nov. 6 that it has performed broadly in line with the board's expectations since the last update provided at the interim results in August. "In Europe, where we have seen no material improvement in market conditions to date, we continue to expect second half operating profit to be lower than the first half of the year," it said.

"This will reflect the impact of normal seasonal factors and is expected to deliver ENA (Europe and North America) profitability slightly below that achieved in the second half of the prior year," the company said.

"The board continues to expect Asia and ROW (Rest of World) operating profit in the second half to be in line with the first half, substantially ahead of the prior year," it said.

StockMarketWire.com
Synthomer has announced that Brendan Connolly is to join its Board as an independent non-executive director.

Mr Connolly was, until last June, a senior executive at Intertek Group and had previously been chief executive officer of Moody International which was acquired by Intertek in 2011.

Prior to this he spent more than 25 years of his career with Schlumberger in senior internationalroles over three continents.

Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2013

RESILIENT PERFORMANCE IN A CHALLENGING YEAR

FULL YEAR HIGHLIGHTS

· Europe and North America (ENA) business impacted by continued weak economic conditions;

· 21% growth in underlying operating profit in Asia and ROW (ARW) driven by a continued recovery in the Asian nitrile business, which developed ahead of expectations in 2013;

· Significant investments in additional capacity and Emerging Markets, combined with continued focus on innovation;

· Continued progress driving efficiencies through plant capability improvements and raw material cost management;

· Group's executive management team strengthened with new regional VP's in Asia and Europe;

· Full year dividend increased by 9% to 6.0 pence on track with the Board's commitment to reduce dividend cover to three times by 2015; and

· Strong free cash flow; net debt reduced to £133.6 million (2012: £155.8 million); net debt / EBITDA ratio of 1.1 (2012: 1.2).

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4763885

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JP Morgan Cazenove has downgraded its recommendation on speciality polymer producer Synthomer (LON:SYNT) to "underweight" from "neutral" after, what it described as, an impressive run and now views the shares as being fully valued. The broker pointed out that the shares have risen by 40 per cent over the past 12 months and reckons this provides existing investors with an ideal opportunity to take profits. Analysts went on to say: "We believe a combination of increasing competition, pricing pressure, heavy EM [emerging markets] exposure and currencies will lead to downgrades in 2014." JPMC also cut its price target to 230 pence per share (from 260 pence) On the flip side, Jefferies International reaffirmed its "buy" investment rating and increased its price target to 338 pence per share (from 305 pence) in a note to clients, on Friday.

Synthomer plc ("Synthomer" or "the Group") today issues its Interim Management Statement for the period 1 January to 30 April 2014.

Trading
We reported with our full year results in February that we had experienced slightly firmer demand in Europe across our Construction & Coatings, Functional Polymers and Performance Polymers segments. Encouragingly, this trend has continued, and as a result operating profit for the first quarter in our Europe and North America business (ENA) was ahead of the prior year, despite an adverse currency translation impact of £0.6M.

In our Asia and Rest of the World (ARW) business, volumes have continued to progress. However, recent substantial expansions by nitrile customers has led to excess glove capacity and aggressive competition between glove manufacturers. Combined with falling Butadiene prices this has resulted in destocking and short term pressure on nitrile margins. However, we expect on-going demand growth for nitrile latex and unit margins to firm as the year progresses.

The Group is currently developing plans for a further expansion of nitrile latex capacity, and expects to make an announcement in the next few months

Financial Position
Net debt increased over the first three months in line with normal seasonality. The Board has previously indicated it would move dividend cover to three times by 2015. However, in the light of the Group's current low leverage, and strong underlying cash flow generation, the Board is reviewing that policy with a view to increasing the planned level of returns to shareholders. Any revised dividend policy will be formally communicated to shareholders with the interim results.

Outlook
Whilst the start to the year in Europe has been encouraging, we remain cautious until these trends become more sustained. So far in 2014, Asia has performed below our expectations due to the competitive environment in the glove market. Although the overall Asia and ROW results may now be slightly weaker than our expectations at the start of the year, we believe the fundamental drivers for our business in the region remain strong.

The Board remains confident in the medium and long term outlook for the Group.

Synthomer will announce its Interim Results on Monday 11th August 2014.

StockMarketWire.com
Synthomer has continued to see similar trends to those seen during the first quarter of the year, which it highlighted at the time of its Interim Management Statement on 1 May 2014.

In Europe and North America, trading has continued in line with the first quarter of the year and our expectations. Volumes were ahead of the prior year in our Construction & Coatings, Functional Polymers and Performance Polymers segments, whilst average cash margins in the second quarter have remained similar to the first three months of 2014.

In Asia and Rest of the World, the strong competition between glove manufacturers that we reported at the time of our Q1 IMS in May has continued. This has caused ongoing margin pressure in our Nitrile business, exacerbated by weak Butadiene pricing and a related period of customer de-stocking.

This prolonged pressure means that operating profit for the first half of the year for Asia will be approximately £4m below our first half performance in 2013 (H1 2013: £11.5m). However, as the second half progresses we continue to expect demand for nitrile latex to grow and unit margins to firm.

In addition, sterling strengthened further during the period. As a result, we now expect currency translation to have an adverse impact on full year operating profit of approximately £5m, an increase of £1m over our original expectations, assuming no further change to current rates.

The result of weaker margins in our nitrile business and adverse currency translation means that we now expect full year profit before tax to be broadly in-line with the level achieved in 2013.

For Harry :-




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Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2014

Continued progress in Europe with strong cash generation; interim dividend up 25%

· Europe and North America: Reported operating profit slightly down but 1.9% up on a constant currency basis, with higher volumes and cash margins firming from H2 2013 levels.

· Asia and ROW: Despite good progress on volumes, performance continued to be impacted by the competitive environment among glove manufacturers which depressed margins in the nitrile business.

· Strong cash generation reduced net debt to £114.6 million (FY 2013: £133.6 million).

· Updated dividend policy: 2.5 times dividend cover effective 2014; interim dividend increased by 25% to 3.0 pence.

Commenting on the results, Adrian Whitfield, Chief Executive Officer, said:

"Against challenging market conditions, particularly in our Asian nitrile business, Synthomer has delivered a solid performance in the first half of 2014, with Group volumes up 1.8%.

In Europe and North America, we saw improvements in demand across most business segments, and encouragingly, cash margins have firmed from the levels seen towards the end of 2013. In Asia and ROW, whilst we saw good progress with volumes increasing by 4.9% during the half, margins in our nitrile business continued to be impacted by the strong competition between glove manufacturers as previously reported. However, we expect nitrile unit margins to firm in the second half.

Given the strong cash generative nature of our business, the Board has today updated the Group's dividend policy, increasing the level of cash returns for shareholders.

We expect the improved demand in Europe to continue through the remainder of the year. In Asia, we expect continued growth in nitrile demand, and some firming in nitrile cash margins. Together with the impact of currency, we expect full year underlying profit before tax to be broadly in line with the level achieved in 2013."

StockMarketWire.com
Synthomer said at present run rates and given the current demand environment in Europe it expects FY pretax profit will be slightly below current consensus.

A company-compiled consensus for FY 2014 pretax profit was £87.8m, within a broader range of £81.3m-£90.3m.

"We are cautious about performance in Europe given recent economic developments, and should this impact demand further than currently anticipated in the fourth quarter, then profit-before-tax is likely to be around the lower end of the current consensus range," the company said in a statement.

At its interims, Synthomer reported firmer demand in its European and North America (ENA) segment, particularly in construction.

"Unfortunately this improved demand trend has not persisted through the third quarter and volumes, excluding business that we deliberately exited in compounds as reported in half one, were down 3% in ENA," the company said in a statement.

"Despite this, unit cash margins continued to firm as a result of our active margin management strategy, and year-to-date average margins in ENA are now ahead of the 2013 average. However, on a local currency basis, as at the end of the third quarter, year-to-date operating profit was slightly down on the prior year.

"In our Asia and Rest of the World (ARW) segment, volumes increased by 1.3% in the quarter. Volumes have been impacted somewhat by our market activities to improve unit cash margins in the nitrile business, where we have made good progress. We remain positive about continuing demand growth in the nitrile latex market."

Goldman Sachs retains neutral on Synthomer, target cut from 260p to 250p.

StockMarketWire.com
Synthomer said it expects FY pretax profit to be in the middle of the current consensus range of £80.9m-£87.3m. It said FY trading and profitability has been in line with its expectations, as stated at the time of its IMS in October 2014.

"As anticipated, demand through November and December was weaker than the prior year in Europe due to an earlier than usual slowdown in end of year trading. Unit margins improved over these months as raw material prices declined," Synthomer said in a statement.

"In Asia, unit margins in nitrile continued to improve, with increased demand in the fourth quarter, helped by the success of new product launches.

"These new products are a result of the Group's ongoing investment in R&D and have faster manufacturing times which will create up to 50 ktes of additional nitrile capacity with some modest additional capital investment."

StockMarketWire.com
Synthomer's FY pretax profit slipped to £86.0m, from £90.1m. Total sales were £990.5m, from £1.05bn. Its total FY ordinary dividend rose to 7.8p a share, from 6.0p. It also proposed a special dividend of 7.8p, from nil.

Chairman Neil Johnson said:
"After a positive start to the year, the economy in Europe faltered, causing demand to weaken during the second half. In Asia, we saw the opposite, with a more intense competitive environment putting pressure on nitrile margins during the first half of the year, but an improving position during the second half.

"In the context of this challenging environment Synthomer has maintained its focus on cost control, product innovation, investment in R&D and capacity expansions in developing markets.

"We remain cautious on the European economy and its impact on demand, but some benefit from lower raw material prices may help offset any volume weakness.

"However, the weakness of the euro, will affect the translation of our European business results. In Asia, we expect to see an improved performance from nitrile given the continuing tightening in the supply demand position and improving margins. Overall, the Board is confident the Group is well positioned for future growth.

"I am delighted to welcome our new CEO Calum MacLean to the Board. His extensive expertise in our industry and track record of growing businesses will be invaluable and I look forward to working with him and taking Synthomer forward."

Ex-div 4th June 2015 (12.6p)