Revenue from Accoya sales for the six months to September 30 was €19.8m, a 43% increase on the same period last year, but the gains were eroded by costs of €3.1m resulting from the arbitration ruling in relation to Diamond Wood.
Record production levels improved the manufacturing segment’s profitability to EBITDA of €3.1m (2013: €0.9m).
The total volume of Accoya sold increased by 39% to 16,840m3 (2013: 12,102m3).
Chief executive Paul Clegg said the company’s balance sheet remained strong and it was confident of achieving a positive cash flow in “the foreseeable future”.
“Our immediate challenge is for additional capacity through the construction of additional Accoya plants in order to meet the growing global demand for our products,” he said. “We are confident of achieving this through our relationship with [Belgian chemical group] Solvay, and we continue to explore additional opportunities in order to achieve the goal of adding Accoya capacity.”
Progress continues on Solvay’s Accoya plant in Freiburg, which is scheduled for completion by 2016.
Chairman Patrick Shanley said the sales outlook was strong.
“Accoya orders are now in place for approximately the next five months of production, with further orders having been received for the remainder of the year, reflecting a significantly longer outlook that this time last year,” he said. He added that Accsys was in a strong position to “continue the transition from a R&D company into one focused on fully commercialising our technologies”.
