London, 19th June 2008                                                                                                  AIM: AXS

                                                                                NYSE Euronext Amsterdam: AXS

Accsys Technologies PLC ("Accsys" or "the Company")

FINAL RESULTS FOR THE 12 MONTHS ENDED 31 MARCH 2008

Financial Highlights

• Sales revenue of €27.3 million (2007: €50,000)

• EBITDA of €7 million (2007: loss of €8.7 million)

• Net profit of €4.1 million (2007: loss of €22.2 million)

• Current net cash position of €46.2 million with no debt

• Maiden dividend of €0.01 per share proposed 

Operational Highlights

• Finlay Morrison appointed CEO, formerly Head of Acetyls at Celanese Corporation

• License agreement signed in China for 500,000m3

• License agreement signed in Middle East for 150,000m3

• Expectations of additional license options and agreements in 2008/2009

• Trading agreements in place in France, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Chile, in addition to UK, Germany and the Netherlands

• Expansion into USA, opening a regional office in Dallas, to take advantage of the overwhelming response to Accoya® wood in the Americas

• Commercial, engineering, design, finance, legal and planning resources strengthened with key appointments

• Titan Wood won two Dutch National Awards for Innovation and Sustainable Production Technology

• Additional product development progress in panel and wood fibre applications

• Further development of Arnhem facility planned in order to double capacity

Executive Chairman, Willy Paterson-Brown, said, "I am very pleased indeed to report the excellent progress of the Company this year. Our first two license agreements, for a substantial aggregate capacity of 650,000 m3 of Accoya® wood, demonstrate confidence in the incredible potential for Accoya® wood in a diverse range of applications. Interest from around the world continues to grow and we are in active discussions with other potential licensees, agents and distributors in key territories.  With professional teams in place and strong financial resources, we are well positioned to meet the demands of global commercial success."

The audited financial statements for the year ended 31st March 2008 follow.

For further information, please contact

Accsys Technologies PLC

Chairman's statement

Results

I am delighted to report excellent progress with your Company during the course of the year, a year that has been transitional in many ways, not least of all in the financial results.

We report revenues of €27.3 million (up from €50,000 last year) and most importantly, our first audited net profits of €4.1 million (compared to a loss of €22.1 million last year).  

To celebrate your Company's achievements, your Board has voted to pay a maiden dividend of €0.01 per share. For those of us who have backed the development of this business for many years, this is a real milestone. I am also pleased to note that this maiden dividend is covered 2.7 times by distributable earnings, and comes a full year ahead of analysts' expectations.

Share price and market listings

Calendar year 2007 saw an increase of 104% in the Company's share price, putting us amongst the top performers on AIM, with good liquidity. Market conditions during 2008, as everyone is aware, have not been favourable, but we must take comfort from the fact that the share price and support for the Company has held up well under adverse market conditions and our core business has not been affected by such conditions.

The Company gained stature from listing on NYSE Euronext in Amsterdam last September, being the first AIM listed company to become dual listed on Euronext, raising a net €18.5 million. Fortis acted as Lead Manager for the successful listing and while liquidity in that market has not yet matched expectations and our share price has suffered since the dual listing, we are appreciative of the support of a number of blue chip institutional investors from across Europe.

Management

Finlay Morrison joined us as Chief Executive Officer in October 2007, bringing a wealth of experience from an impressive career including senior roles at Celanese Corporation and Hoechst AG. Finlay has worked tirelessly to expand the team globally, improve operations in Arnhem, establish a US office in Dallas and prepare us for the expansion in the year ahead. 

Glyn Thomas, our CFO since inception is now stepping down to assume a full time role as CFO of our first licensee, Diamond Wood China Limited, in which the Company has a stake. He has made an unparalleled contribution to the development of your Company, his involvement dating from 2001. 

Kevin Wood joins us as Chief Financial Officer bringing experience of manufacturing from senior finance roles with Arla Foods UK plc and formerly with GEHE UK plc. Kevin is a chemical engineering graduate and qualified with Coopers & Lybrand, his appointment as Chief Financial Officer taking effect from the approval of these annual results.

During the year we strengthened our independent non executive representation on the Board with the appointment in August 2007 of Lord Sanderson of Bowden who has had an illustrious career in politics, industry and banking, being Chairman of Clydesdale Bank for many years. Lord Sanderson has brought significant experience to the Board as well as to the Nominations & Remuneration Committee, which he now chairs, and the Audit Committee. 

We have also appointed Tom Priday to the Board as a non executive director, effective today. Tom brings extensive banking experience over the last 25 years having served with BNP Paribas, UBS and DePfa. Tom is currently Chairman of Finisterre Capital LLP.

Stefan Allesch-Taylor and Edward Pratt both stepped down from the Board and I would like to thank them both for their contribution, help and support over the years.

As the Company has grown the management team has expanded significantly, and will continue to do so during the course of this year. I assess our people resource as our key critical resource factor. Our success in developing your Company over recent years has been fundamentally attributable to the dedication of our staff - operating at all levels and increasingly, today, in many parts of the world.  

I place great importance in ensuring we attract, recruit, develop, motivate and incentivise the best people. Our business strategy is to license our technology - globally. Licensing new technology brings many challenges - protection of intellectual property, helping potential licensees understand and exploit market opportunities for a new material and closing contracts worth hundreds of millions of Euros over the full term.  

We rely on dedication, expertise, integrity and sustained levels of effort in sometimes challenging circumstances. I work to ensure we have in place reward systems which recognise the sacrifices our staff make and their contribution to the success of your Company.

Business plans

We continually explore ways to improve our business model and pride ourselves on our flexibility in the search for increased profitability. We successfully started commercial operations at our plant in Arnhem; signed two License Agreements in China and the Middle East; restructured our supply agreement with Celanese Corporation; made an equity investment in Diamond Wood China Limited; opened a new office in Dallas and, in round terms, increased staff numbers from fifty to seventy five people.  

The plans for the current year are focused on continuous improvement of our production processes, technology development and closing more licensing transactions. As described in greater detail in the Business Review, we have made solid progress in improving the production process - something we always anticipated would take patience following the 80 fold scale up from our large scale pilot plant to the commercial scale technology demonstration facility in Arnhem. We are also developing enhanced designs to increase productivity and reduce unit cost - which will naturally encourage further interest amongst potential licensees.

Our first two licensees signed for a substantial aggregate annual capacity of 650,000 m3 at our published pricing of €200 per m3 of capacity plus €22 per m3 annual capacity royalties.

Our success in signing our first licenses has been encouraging in a number of respects: the scale of licensed production per licensee and their geographical locations. The scale is indicative of the size of potential market demand for durable and attractive Accoya® acetylated wood. Feedback from market studies and discussions with potential end users around the world continues to identify a widening array of product applications for which Accoya® is suitable.

Conclusions

Your Company has now reported its first profit and has beaten analysts' expectations on that profitability. We have no debt, a cash position of €46 million, a market capitalization exceeding €400 million and have approved our first dividend payment. Your company has had a good year and we look forward with excitement to the year ahead.

The scale and geographical diversity of third parties with whom we are currently discussing potential license arrangements reflects the truly global nature of our business opportunity and we expect to make further announcements on additional licensing activity in the near future. 

It is a pleasure to serve as your chairman and I would like to thank you for your support.

Willy Paterson-Brown, Executive Chairman                    18 June 2008

  Accsys Technologies PLC

Business review

Financial results

With the first year's production from the Accoya® technology validation plant, fees from the Accoya® License Agency being recognised and initial payments under the first two Technology Licenses - aggregate revenues reached €27.3 million (2007: €0.05m).

Having produced our first Accoya® production batch in March 2007, the past year has been focused on improving capacity utilisation, extensive product testing and process refinement. The year has started with an improvement in stock availability for Accoya® and distribution agreements have been put in place for France, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Chile, in addition to those already in place in the UK, Germany and The Netherlands.

The increase in general administrative expenses, excluding prior year impairment charges, has been limited to 15% despite the expansion of business activity.

Substantial additional cash was raised from additional share issues (€42.5m net of costs; 2007: €10.3m net of costs), whilst the cash outflow from operations was largely staunched (outflow of €0.7m: 2007: outflow of €8.5m). With capital expenditure during the year falling to €7.0m (2007: €18.2m), cash balances rose to €46.2m (2007: €10.8m). This places the Company in a strong position to undertake investment in further development of its proprietary acetylation technology (for both solid wood and for fibreboard) and for expansion of its own Accoya® production facilities; to improve economies of scale and to in-source various ancillary activities currently outsourced.

Technology development

Good progress has been achieved during the year in developing operating protocols at our Arnhem facility. Det Norske Veritas, world renowned for certification of engineered process parameters, have been appointed as the certification body for Accoya® production process requirements. Two certification runs have been fully completed and established the methodology for the certification that is expected to meet the needs of all licensees of the technology.

Despite some early teething problems bedding in the new plant, production has steadily risen throughout the year and is expected to continue to climb steadily as pre drying, new loading and new processing protocols are refined and adopted.

As well as refining the existing production model, known as the MP4, engineering work is on-going to finalise an evolutionary development (MP4.1). This evolutionary development sees a doubling of capacity, but otherwise proposes very limited changes to the configuration. This represents a low cost and low risk solution that we plan to make available as an option for existing as well as new licensees during the second quarter of the current year. We are continually seeking to raise productivity significantly and reduce unit cost to substantially improve profitability whilst supporting entry to lower price points.

At the interim stage we announced plans to develop our site at Arnhem by in-sourcing some currently outsourced activities and to expand capacity. Additional land adjacent and contiguous to our existing wood modification plant has been acquired. Detailed proposals are now being drawn up ready to evaluate alternative capabilities to bring on site prior to commissioning the detailed engineering.

We are undertaking an extensive programme of species testing to identify a wider range of species that can be used to produce acetylated wood of appropriate quality at an economic cost. These tests are particularly important for those prospective licensees owning their own extensive forests.

Progress on the acetylated fibre project has continued and we anticipate significant developments in the course of the coming year.

Progress in building awareness about Accoya®

The brand name 'Accoya' and the Trimarque Device have been successfully registered in all major territories and comprehensive Brand Guidelines have been developed to ensure protection of the brand wherever and whenever it is used.

Accoya® wood has been represented at a number of international conferences, events and exhibitions, including Dubai, Florida, Greece, the Netherlands, Turkey, UK and USA, attracting wide attention and interest. Excellent exposure at Ecobuild 2008 in London (several trade stands plus the Accoya® wood Lecture Theatre) led to numerous trade enquiries and generated additional extra interest from prospective licensees. Ongoing positive press coverage has been obtained in UK, USA and Europe, and The Times Media Planet 'Out of the Woods' supplement carried a full page Accoya® wood advertisement in November.

Projects using Accoya® wood in diverse applications have included Accoya® wood windows and doors for a sustainable house built during Grand Designs Live on UK television. Wide media coverage of the use of Accoya® wood for windows, doors and cladding in an architect-designed private residence in Fife was also achieved. Amongst other projects, Accoya® wood has been used in fencing for a zoo enclosure, canal sidings, balconies, bridges, decking, workshops, housing association developments and wooden planters (as seen at the Chelsea Flower Show).

In March, Titan Wood won the 2008 Dutch National Award for Innovation - the prestigious "Columbus Egg" - and also the award for Sustainable Production Technology. These bi-annular awards are granted by the Dutch Government to reward sustainability innovation in the Netherlands. Titan Wood has subsequently been entered into the European Business Awards for the Environment (EBAE).

Titan Wood Limited has also been granted FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) Chain of Custody Certification. 

Progress with licensing activity

Our agreements with Celanese were successfully restructured during the year, providing the Group with greater flexibility for the supply of acetyls for licensing arrangements and increased competition for supply to meet our own needs.

The Licensing Agency agreement signed last year proved extremely worthwhile, with the entire agency capacity commitment fulfilled through involvement in the full technology license agreements signed during the year.

The first license we signed was for the China market with Diamond Wood China Limited in respect of an annual production capacity of 500,000 m3. Diamond Wood China Limited is a private Hong Kong company, which has a highly experienced team and already making strong progress towards achieving government approvals for its first facility. In evaluating the risks and opportunities from this license, it became clear that the Company would potentially gain considerably by taking a direct equity stake. Accordingly, for a €6m investment, the Company has a 13% stake in the Hong Kong domiciled parent company.

Our second license agreement is with a large Saudi financial group, Al Rajhi Holdings WLL. Al Rajhi Holdings WLL has taken a license for 150,000 m3 annual capacity and exclusive rights for the territories of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Discussions with additional potential licensees are currently at various stages of development with prospective parties in a wider range of territories in almost every continent.

Building our resources

As the Chairman has remarked, our critical resource constraint is skilled people. We have had a measure of success recently and have considerably strengthened our engineering and design resource with the arrival of a number of very experienced engineers.

We have also expanded our licensing resource, with the beginning of regional deployments across Asia, the Americas and in Europe. Our marketing team has been expanded and additional direct sales staff retained in Western Europe.

We have recruited in-house legal resource and augmented our finance and planning team. We have also expanded our logistics team.

This selective accretion in manpower is reflected in rising administration overheads but is the key enabler to grow the business and close an increasing number of licensing agreements.

Our financial resources are clear from the balance sheet. With significant cash, and no debt, we are well placed to finance resource expansion across all key disciplines, as well as to enhance our in-house production capacity.

Finlay Morrison, Chief Executive Officer

Glyn Thomas, Chief Financial Officer

18 June 2008

  Accsys Technologies PLC

Directors' report for the year ended 31 March 2008

The directors present their report together with the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2008.

Results and dividends

The consolidated income statement for the year is set out on page 17.

The directors recommend payment of a maiden dividend of one euro cent per ordinary share.

Principal activities and review of the business

The principal activity of the group is the development and commercialisation of its proprietary technology for the manufacture of Accoya branded acetylated wood. The group is also engaged in the development of other related process technologies with potential applications in the wood and chemicals industries. A review of the business is set out in the Chairman's statement and the Business review on pages 1 to 5.

Financial instruments

Details of the use of financial instruments by the Company and its subsidiary undertakings are set out in Note 21 of the financial statements.

Share issues

Celanese Corporation ("Celanese") subscribed for 8,115,883 new ordinary shares at a price of €2.72 per share, a price determined as being at a 5% premium to the closing share price on 27 March 2007, the date the strategic partnership was entered into. An Extraordinary General Meeting held on 15 May 2007 also approved the granting of an option to Celanese to subscribe for additional Ordinary shares to increase its holding in the Company to 29.9% at the market price when the option is exercised.

On 18th September the Company was admitted to trading on Euronext Amsterdam by NYSE Euronext. Accsys Technologies was the first AIM listed company to become dual listed on Euronext, with 5,000,000 new Ordinary shares placed at a price of €4.10 each to raise a net €18.5 million. These shares were issued under the dis-application authority vested in the directors by the shareholders to issue additional shares up to 5% of the shares then in issue.

An aggregate of 1,574,160 additional new ordinary shares were issued during the year at a price of €0.46 each as a consequence of option-holders exercising share options.

Commercial agreements with Celanese Corporation

In May 2007, an agreement was signed with Celanese for exclusive supply of acetyls which included an investment of €22.1 million in the Company. The following six months saw rapid progress in the development of the Group's business, during which it became apparent that the original terms of the agreement were too restrictive for both companies. In November 2007, the Company agreed a new arrangement with Celanese as it had become clear that the trading and supply relationships, in conjunction with our prospective licensees, needed to be negotiated on a case by case basis. Under the new agreement, Celanese relinquished its option to acquire further Ordinary shares in the Company to take its equity stake up to 29.9% and agreed to an orderly placement of Celanese's then 5.23% holding in the Company - the majority of which has been placed in the market. At the latest date available, Celanese holding in the Company is below 1%. Having reached a new business relationship with Celanese we were immediately in a position to proceed to close our Licensing Agreement for China. 

Principal risks and uncertainties

The business, financial condition or results of operations of the Group could be adversely affected by any of the risks set out below. The Group's systems of control and protection are designed to help manage and control risks to an appropriate level rather than to eliminate them.

The directors consider that the principal risks to achieving the Group's objectives are those set out below.

(a)    Economic and market conditions

The Group's operations comprise the manufacture of Accoya and licensing the technology to do so to third parties. The cost and availability of key inputs affects the profitability of the Group's own manufacturing whilst also impacting the potential profitability of third parties interested in licensing the Group's technology. The price of key inputs and security of supply are managed by the group, partly through the development of long term contractual supply agreements.

(b)    Regulatory, legislative and reputational risks

The Group's operations are subject to extensive regulatory requirements, particularly in relation to its manufacturing operations and employment policies. Changes in laws and regulations and their enforcement may adversely impact the Group's operations in terms of costs, changes to business practices and restrictions on activities which could damage the Group's reputation and brand.

(c)    Employees

The Group's success depends on its ability to continue to attract, motivate and retain highly qualified employees. The highly qualified employees required by the Group in various capacities are sometimes in