This from Penny Sleuth UK:

The value of a racing camel in the Middle East, Michael Laurier informed me, can be as much as $1m. So unsurprisingly, owners of camels do not want them mooching around and sampling the taste of discarded plastic bags. Apart from being indestructible and an eye-sore, a plastic bag can kill both marine and land creatures. It’s little wonder that we would all like to find a better alternative to conventional plastic bags.

Michael Laurier is chief executive of Symphony Environmental Technologies (LON:SYM). When he reports interim results on 16 September, they should show that he is finally winning the battle to persuade the world of the merits of Symphony’s d2w plastic additive.

The wonder of the disappearing plastic

I have described this before, but essentially the addition of d2w at the extrusion stage of the plastic production process renders the plastic ‘oxo-biodegradable’. This means that it will degrade and disappear in a short space of time, leaving no fragments, no methane, and no harmful residues.

These claims have been disputed in the past, but as well as indulging in scientific argument, Laurier is now able to point to some genuine commercial success. It seems that major plastic bag users around the world have been convinced by the claims for oxo-biodegradable plastic and are starting to specify its use.

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One of these is Inditex (MCE:ITX), the giant clothing retailer behind the Zara chain. It has devoted one of the 413 pages of its 2007 annual report (how many trees were chopped down to produce that?) to an explanation of its reasons for specifying plastic bags with the d2w additive.Describing this element of its ’sustainable store’ project, Inditex explains that d2w will result in the total decomposition of its plastic bags ‘in a natural way’ over an average period of one to two years, rather than the four hundred years that it takes a conventional bag to degrade. And it lists the following additional advantages of degradable plastic. It turns into water, carbon dioxide and biomass. It doesn’t need to be buried to biodegrade. It needs less raw material for its production. And it retains the properties of conventional plastic, such as being resistant and waterproof.345 billion plastic bags are bad – which makes this breakthrough important Symphony’s web-site features a ticking dial, showing the number of plastic bags used worldwide so far this year. The number is now over 345bn. That’s bad for the environment. But Symphony is successfully spreading the word of its technology far and wide. In recent months it has reported breakthroughs in three quite different parts of the world.

After extensive trials, the major Mexican food manufacturer, Grupo Bimbo, has decided to adopt d2w, and it will now appear in all the main supermarkets and retail outlets in Mexico City as well as elsewhere in Latin America. In India, Symphony signed a fifteen year distribution agreement with Luibeg International, which represents a syndicate of prominent plastic manufacturers and investors in India and has the backing of Government Agencies and the State Pollution Control Boards.

But when Laurier telephoned me he was especially excited about an event held in the Al Wasl ballroom of the Dusit Hotel in Dubai. This was the launch of d2w in the United Arab Emirates in conjunction with distributor Eco Polymers, a subsidiary of the Fujairah Plastics Group.

In case I did not believe him, Laurier sent me a copy of the invitation to this event, staged ‘under the patronage of His Excellency Dr Rashed Ahmed Bin Fahad, the UAE’s Minister of Environment and Water.’ Describing d2w as ‘just what we need’, the minister duly gave it his backing, a message that will not have been lost upon the event’s one hundred and fifty attendees, included amongst them the man responsible for all disposing of all the waste in Dubai.

The Dubai Municipality, Sharjah Cooperative, Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS), Aswaaq Supermarket Group, Emirates Environmental NGO, and the Al Safeer Group of Companies were all present to demonstrate and endorse d2w, and Symphony has already taken its largest ever order from the region.

A small company that’s staying on my radar

Symphony has had its ups and downs, and has not so far rewarded its investors. But it appears to have a product that is unique and could have universal appeal. As a consumable product, satisfied customers should keep coming back for more, and these factors give Symphony real potential.

At the AGM in July, Symphony has already reported that sales of d2w in the first half of 2008 were 73% ahead of 2007, and although broker Edison is expecting a loss this year, it projects a £700,000 profit and earnings per share of 0.5p in 2009. Those numbers are predicated upon a 50% rise in annual revenues to £8.25m, but if the interims later this month are encouraging these forecasts may start to look pessimistic.

I’m excited about this company. It’s not one I’m buying right now, but it’s exactly the sort of firm I might look at in more detail in Red Hot Penny Shares in the months ahead. I’ll be keeping it on my “radar” in the meantime.

Source: How To Save the $1 Million Camel

My article drew the following response from a reader:

“Tomorrow’s forecast is heavy rain. Would you bet your pension fund on it? You would like other people to bet their pensions on your forecasts.”

I’d like to address this. I’m going to explain why I believe there are good investments you can make in the current economic climate. In particular, I’ll tell you about one “FTSE safe haven” that has our penny shares expert very excited indeed…

But first, I’d like to make it clear that we at Fleet Street are not in the business of offering pensions advice. Pensions are not our beat.

No, we write for readers who are interested in private investing — many of whom wish to buy shares themselves for their own personal portfolio. Some have a bit of money put aside, and are looking for ideas of what to do with it.

Our business is based on selling our research. Therefore, not surprisingly, we set a lot of store by that research. Its quality determines how successful our business is.

We publish reports that present recommendations that we believe will deliver returns. It goes without saying that all our recommendations are thoroughly researched.

Of course, there are no guarantees with any sort of investing. Risk goes hand-in-hand with reward, and you should never invest more than you’re comfortable with.

But I firmly believe that there are good investments to be made right now. We have several new reports that are in the process of coming to press. The current climate may be tricky for investors… but that just means we’ve had to work a bit harder!

And, as they say where I come from, “A bit of graft never hurt anyone!” (Note to those who don’t speak Geordie — ‘graft’ refers to hard work. Elbow grease!)

Why do I believe there are still good investments? To answer that, let’s first consider the current state of our economy. What’s the latest news?

Well… it’s not good. Marks and Spencer (LON:MKS) yesterday announced a 5% drop in sales over the second quarter of the year. The announcement wiped £4 billion off the value of leading retailers.

Home builder Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW) announced 900 job losses after it failed to raise sufficient cash from investors. And this could be the start of a wave of unemployment. The OECD reckons Britain will see 100,000 jobs go over the next two years.

These economic woes make it tempting to avoid stocks completely. But that still leaves the question of what to do with your money.

Buy property? Certainly not! Not in today’s market…

Hold cash? With inflation rising, that’s a guaranteed way to become poorer in real terms. Put simply, inflation destroys the value of cash.

That’s why you need investments that offer you the chance to keep pace with inflation — and ideally outstrip it.

Our upcoming reports will give you details of just such investments. On Saturday, I’ll tell you how you can get your hands on Tom Bulford’s latest — which reveals a small resource company on the verge of something big (more details tomorrow).

The beauty of this company is that isn’t reliant on the state of the UK economy. And the truth is, there are several FTSE-listed companies that offer UK investors the same advantage — broad, global exposure.

The primary operations of these firms take place far, far away from these shores. Yet the international scope of the FTSE is something many investors overlook.

We don’t. Our research team is looking closely at a number of stocks that we believe offer a haven from the coming UK downturn. I’ll keep you posted on these in the weeks ahead…

Not all stock markets have had a bad year. This one’s up 73%…

It’s tempting to think that every stock market in the world has imploded in the last year. But, as Manraaj Singh proves, there is still good value out there.

And believe me, he really does mean “out there”!

You see, Manraaj has been investigating the so-called “frontier markets”.

“Think of them as emerging emerging markets,” he says. One of these, Lebanon, has seen its stock market shoot up 73% in the last 12 months — this in spite of all the global financial turmoil.

As you can imagine, these minnows offer spectacular profit potential. Manraaj’s favourite frontier market will, he believes, bring returns that dwarf even those seen in Lebanon.

Trouble is, most investors don’t know how to get frontier market exposure in their portfolio. And many commentators have said — mistakenly — that it’s almost impossible for private investors.

“Not true,” says Manraaj. “We’ve found a way — and I’ll tell you exactly what you need to do.”

With this one investment, you’ll gain exposure to what Manraaj reckons is the hottest frontier market on Earth!

Until tomorrow

Ben Traynor

Source: Finding Those ‘FTSE Safe Havens’