Investor

PureCircle is pleased to announce the roll-out of a global consumer marketing campaign to promote stevia as a new better sweet choice. The programme is built around the trust mark "Stevia by PureCircle" which will be found on the packaging of leading manufacturers around the world.

The campaign is designed in partnership with planned customer launches and marketing activity will work in conjunction with our customers' own marketing. This approach will leverage fully the investments being made and the consumer momentum being generated by our partner customers.

The campaign will begin in September with plans to reach millions of consumers through print, digital, television and social media channels in conjunction with customer co-marketing activities. Products with the message that they are "naturally sweetened with stevia by PureCircle" are now launching in the United States and Latin America with plans underway to expand into other global markets. Included among these brands are leading products like True Lemonade powdered beverages in the US. Other major brands are planned to be announced as the campaign approaches. PureCircle's consumer campaign follows the recent successful launch of the Global Stevia Institute, a new organisation supported by PureCircle to promote consistent and credible science-based education on stevia for health professionals, trade and media, and led by a scientific advisory board of internationally recognised health professionals. With more than 200 influential health professionals in attendance at the Institute's launch webinar, the Institute has already established itself as a leading resource in the industry.

"We are committed to driving the healthy development of stevia as a global mainstream ingredient." said Jason Hecker, Vice President of Global Marketing at PureCircle. "The response we have received from consumers, customers and others in the industry on our new campaign and launch of the Global Stevia Institute has been overwhelmingly positive. Our new trust mark campaign, in partnership with our customers, will play a critical role in insuring that stevia maintains a place firmly among other natural ingredients that consumers love and trust."

For More Information
PureCircle Limited (www.purecircle.com)
Magomet Malsagov, Managing Director
+60 1 2388 8049

William Mitchell, Finance Director
+44 7974 005 163

Westport Communications +44 20 7065 2690
Alan Frame alan@westportcomms.com
Jeanette Bishop jeanette@westportcomms.com

RFC Corporate Finance Ltd +61 8 9480 2500
Stephen Allen

PureCircle today announces five major contract wins.

In addition to our existing global supply contracts with PepsiCo Inc, Merisant and Firmenich that have been announced already, PureCircle has secured global multi-year contracts with a number of major Food and Beverage companies as valued clients. Our major contract wins include:

- Danone
- Unilever
- Bimbo Bakeries
- Dean Foods
- Kerry Ingredients

Beyond these contracts there are a number of other arrangements that are in the final stages of negotiations with global multinational F&B companies which will be announced in due course. Over and above the strategic contracts PureCircle has more than 100 regional and local F&B invoicing customers and this list is expected to grow substantially in FY 2011.

PureCircle is also working as supplier of choice for a number of major retailers, including Kroger.

Magomet Malsagov, CEO of PureCircle commented:

"We have succesfully diversified our client base from one exclusive customer to a number of major stratigic global F&B clients and over 100 regional and local invoicing customers around the world. Although the decision to go directly to the market has had short term impact on our sales in the early stages of the development of the industry, we are absolutely confident that it was the right decision for long term growth of the company. The breadth and depth of the client base we are developing across many food and beverage categories reflects our leadership in the fast developing stevia market. Working closely with our clients and our JV partners globally we intend to bring good tasting, natural sweetening solutions to all consumers around the world"
  
For More Information
PureCircle Limited (www.purecircle.com)
Magomet Malsagov, Managing Director
+60 1 2388 8049
William Mitchell, Finance Director
+44 7974 005 163

Westport Communications +44 20 7065 2690
Alan Frame alan@westportcomms.com
Jeanette Bishop jeanette@westportcomms.com

RFC Corporate Finance Ltd +61 8 9480 2500
Stephen Allen

PureCircle today announces a further acceleration in its strategic developments with the signing of a Memorandum Of Understanding (“MOU”) with British Sugar Group Plc.

On Monday 26 July PureCircle Limited signed a MOU with British Sugar Group Plc for the formation of The Natural Sweetness Company ("TNSC"). TNSC will be a sales and marketing Joint Venture owned equally by both parties.

TNSC will work on developing and marketing a range of products that combine the natural benefits of both sugar and stevia to meet the food and beverage industries' requirements for reduced calorie natural sweet applications. The Natural Sweetness Company will operate across British Sugar's core territories of the UK, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, China and Africa.

Both British Sugar and PureCircle have established track records in developing proprietary technologies tied to natural, sweet products and both partners view this agreement as an important vehicle for growth.

Mark Carr, Chief Executive of British Sugar Group, said:
"We are delighted with our agreement with PureCircle, the global leader in providing high purity stevia products. We look forward to working together to develop a range of products that can provide an attractive proposition for customers seeking lower calorie, natural sweetening solutions. This agreement complements British Sugar's
core sugar business and enhances its product portfolio and growth opportunities."

Magomet Malsagov, CEO & President of PureCircle Limited, commented:
"We know that our global customers want naturally reduced calorie sweetener options provided to them around the world to complement their existing sugar options. When we were looking for global partners British Sugar was the stand out choice across all measures in its core markets. As we work together it is clear that there is a
strong alignment in how we see the sweetener market developing."

PureCircle Limited (www.purecircle.com)
Magomet Malsagov, CEO +60 1 2388 8049
William Mitchell, CFO +44 7974 005 163

RFC Corporate Finance (NOMAD) +61 8 9480 2500
Steve Allen

Westport Communications +44 20 7065 2690
Alan Frame alan@westportcomms.com
Jeanette Bishop jeanette@westportcomms.com

Notes to editors:
1. Stevia is a plant from the chrysanthemum family that originates from Paraguay in South America. It has been used as a natural sweetener and flavour enhancer for many centuries. In 2008 high purity (over 95 per cent) Rebaudioside A (Reb A), a single molecule from the stevia plant, was granted U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) GRAS (generally regarded as safe) status for use as a sweetener ingredient in beverage and food products. EU regulatory approval is anticipated in spring 2011. On a weight basis, high purity Rebaudioside A is up to 400 times sweeter than sugar, has no calories, has a low glycemic index and is heat and pH stable.

Since FDA authorisation, stevia sweetened products have rapidly grown in demand within the United States. For example: Nielsen data for year end 2009 show stevia sweetened products comprised 14 per cent of the USA tabletop sweetener market. According to the Mintel GNPD database, more than 150 new products sweetened with stevia have been launched so far in 2010, in 35 countries.

2. British Sugar (www.britishsugargroup.com) is one of the largest sugar producers in the world and has sugar operations in the UK, Spain, China and southern Africa. For the year ended 12 September 2009 revenue was £1.575 bn, adjusted operating profit £189m and some 4.5 million tonnes of sugar was produced.

3. PureCircle (www.purecircle.com) is the global leader in the production of high purity stevia products. It is estimated that in excess of 80% of the world's high purity Rebaudioside A has been produced by PureCircle. In addition PureCircle is leading the industry with the development of a strong sustainable natural supply chain. Stevia is now being grown for PureCircle in 15 countries across South America, Africa, and Asia, providing a sustainable cash crop for rural farming communities in each region.

As part of its leadership of the stevia industry, PureCircle has pioneered the industry trust mark "Naturally Sweetened with Stevia by PureCircle" that educates consumers about the benefits of stevia and provides a strong basis for trust for both consumers and Food and Beverage companies alike.

PureCircle's global headquarters are in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. PureCircle shares are traded on the LSE AiM index. 
 

PureCircle  today provides a trading update for its financial year ended 30 June 2010 and announces further acceleration in its strategic developments.

FY 2010 Trading Update
The group will announce its preliminary results for the year ended 30 June 2010 ("FY 2010") on Wednesday 22 September 2010. In advance we provide today an unaudited trading update. We expect to report sales for FY2010 in line with those of the year to 30 June 2009 ("FY 2009"). The FY 2009 Reb A business was based substantially on sales to just two customers. Almost 60 per cent of FY 2009 Group sales were to a trading partner, as opposed to an end user Food and Beverage customer. Although our supply contract with that trading partner ran through to 30 June 2010, no sales were made to them during the FY 2010 year. The Company's sales strategy post 2008 has been to work directly with end user Food and Beverage clients. In line with this strategy, the contract with the trading partner has been discontinued.

During FY 2010 our customer base expanded significantly. We now have more than 100 invoicing customers globally: this is the premium customer base in our industry. Most customers are currently conducting trials and testing launches. But those consumer products already launched are performing well and as their volume needs expand, they provide an excellent platform for strong growth in FY 2011 and future years.

FY 2010 profitability will be below FY 2009 levels. FY 2010 profits have been held back by our significantly increased investment in production overhead, sales and marketing compared to FY 2009 amounts coupled with the fact that the company is running under capacity. PureCircle's strategy is to build a large global business and we have invested heavily to do so. The current company infrastructure is designed to support a business with turnover of $250mor more.

FY 2010 has been another year of rapid progress in the strengthening and expansion of our global supply chain. Our major production capacity investments in FY 2009 have all performed well with actual production doubling in line with investment plans. The yields and steviolglycoside flexibility that our investments allow continue to lead the industry by some margin. We expect further strong gains in FY 2011.

Our leaf expansion and diversification strategy accelerated again in FY 2010. There is now stevia being grown for PureCircle in some 15 countries in four continents. The steviolglycoside content of the leaf is increasing as is the proportion of our leaf supply being sourced from PureCircle proprietary high quality strains.

The Company has a strong balance sheet and is well placed to expand as the stevia market accelerates. In November 2009 we raised new capital to support new expansion. We ended FY 2010 with gross cash of $65m in the balance sheet and are fully funded for existing expansion plans, particularly with the FY2009 investments still not fully utilised.

Strategy developments - major sugar joint ventures established
In February 2010 we announced the creation of Natural Sweet Ventures ("NSV") our joint venture with Imperial Sugar of the USA. NSV is the first company to market a combined sucrose and stevia product range. Customer response in the important NAFTA market has been strongly supportive.

Today we have announced the signing of a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with British Sugar Group Plc for the creation of The Natural Sweetness Company ("TNSC"). TNSC will be a 50:50 Joint Venture and will be the first company to market sucrose stevia product combinations in the UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Africa and China markets.

More details on the TNSC MOU are included in the separate RNS issued today.

The NSV and TNSC joint ventures provide a clear blueprint for how we see our strategy developing and we expect to be able to announce further strategic relationships in the coming months.

Strategy developments - major new global customer account gains
During FY 2010 we have won contracts with major new global account customers. In addition to our multi-year contracts with PepsiCo Inc and Merisant Inc, we have secured supply contracts with more major F&B companies and have secured important initial relationships with a number of major retailers. These contract wins demonstrate that PureCircle continues to secure the leading share of major F&B company relationships in the global stevia market.

A separate announcement on the new contracts will follow.

Strategy developments - industry marketing leadership
We have accelerated our industry marketing leadership during FY 2010 with the successful launch of a series of major initiatives.

In June 2010 we supported the launch of the Global Stevia Institute. This will provide independent industry- wide knowledge and consumer information leadership. Staffed and managed by highly respected medical and nutritional professionals and operating across all continents, the Global Stevia Institute is already seen as the leader in stevia thought leadership.

During FY 2010 we launched the Stevia by PureCircle industry trustmark. This provides robust consumer trust benefits and has been well received by our growing list of F&B clients. We expect to announce strong developments on this initiative in the near future.

Strategic developments - accelerating stevia product launches and approvals
During FY 2010 we widened the range of our high quality stevia product portfolio and we are accelerating the number and pace of product launches and regulatory approvals. The recent FDA GRAS no objection clearance for our new SG95 product is a good example of this. We expect more material product developments and clearances in FY 2011.

On the wider regulatory front, FY 2010 saw important progress in the important European markets. In September France gave clearance for Reb A to be sold as an ingredient. Then in March 2010 the European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA) recommended approval for 95% purity steviolglycosides. The EFSA recommendation is an important milestone towards full EU clearance for stevia.

Strategic developments - leaf research
During FY 2010 we accelerated our research and investment into improved stevia varieties. In April we announced a major research programme with Michigan State University which will complement the extensive leaf improvement work being undertaken in our operating units across the world.

We expect to be able to make announcements about further progress with our leaf strategy in the near future.

Auditors
With strong growth plans ahead and with a more complex international sphere of operations the Group has changed its auditors to PricewaterhouseCoopers from Crowe Horwath. The change is effective for the audit of the FY 2010 financial statements.

Outlook
FY 2010 has seen stevia become recognised as a core part of the global mass volume natural sweetener industry. All major F&B companies are now using stevia and most are now integrating stevia into their long term sweetener strategies along with sugar and corn.
 
With more than one hundred customers actively working on projects and with a high success rate for consumer product launches using PureCircle stevia, we expect sales to our existing customer base to grow strongly in FY 2011 and future years. In addition the full opening of the European market expected in FY 2011, the wider product portfolio that SG95 clearances allow and our strong sugar partnerships will each provide additional major sources of revenue growth.

We expect accelerated strategic progress in FY 2011, starting with the TNSC MOU announced separately today. In turn this provides the global F&B companies with further confidence that they can design stevia into their larger global brands.

We have a significant new product innovation pipeline. These coupled with a growing range of stevia regulatory clearances will keep PureCircle at the forefront of customer service and application development.
 
Going forward we expect to see more customers launching more products in more countries and accelerating the growth of the overall market. PureCircle is well placed to secure a major share of this growth. We have the balance sheet and the global infrastructure in place to support this.
 
We look forward to reporting on further progress.

Chairman comment
"FY 2010 has seen a real acceleration in the execution of our long term corporate strategy. Our sugar partnerships and our excellent client relationships confirm our leadership position. 2011 and future years will see real market acceleration. PureCircle is well placed to secure share as this happens"

CEO comment
"We have put in place the strategy, the organisation, the capacity, the product portfolio and the partnerships for a major global business. The benefits of these will come through strongly as market demand accelerates"

Enquiries:

PureCircle Limited (www.purecircle.com)
Magomet Malsagov, CEO +60 1 2388 8049
William Mitchell, CFO +44 7974 005 163
RFC Corporate Finance (NOMAD) +61 8 9480 2500
Steve Allen
 

PureCircle today announces that Jordi Ferre, currently VP Sales North America, is appointed Corporate VP Global Sales and Marketing. In his new role Mr Ferre will have management responsibility for all sales and marketing globally and he will join the executive management team, reporting directly into the Group CEO.

Mr Ferre is based in PureCircle's Oakbrook, Chicago, Illinois office. He joined PureCircle in 2008 from Tate & Lyle.

Enquiries:
PureCircle Limited (www.purecircle.com)
Magomet Malsagov, Managing Director +60 1 2388 8049
William Mitchell, Finance Director +44 7974 005 163

Westport Communications +44 20 7065 2690
Alan Frame alan@westportcomms.com
Jeanette Bishop jeanette@westportcomms.com

RFC Corporate Finance Ltd +61 8 9480 2500
Stephen Allen