PETROTEC AG / Half Year Results/Forecast
21.08.2008
Release of a Adhoc News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad hoc disclosure pursuant to section 15, German Securities Trading Act
(WpHG)
Petrotec boosts sales by 29 %
- New biodiesel plant with 100,000 tons coming on stream
- Accruals for impending losses of EUR 4.9 million squeeze earnings
- Own collection of used cooking oils rises by over 50 %
- 2008: revised forecast for the year
Borken, August 21, 2008 Petrotec AG (ISIN DE000PET1111), the manufacturer
of climate-friendly biodiesel refined from used cooking oil, booked
first-half 2008 consolidated sales of EUR 41.0 million, up 29.1 % on the
year. Compared with Q1 2008, in Q2 the company raised sales by higher
production output and selling efforts and positive sales price development
significantly by 60.8 % to EUR 25.3 million, a trend bolstered by the new
biodiesel plant in Emden coming on stream. Owing to accruals for impending
losses necessary to cover biodiesel contracts concluded at the end of 2007,
in H1 2008 Petrotec reported a loss before interest, taxes, depreciation
and amortization of EUR 8.0 million (H1 2007 loss: EUR 0.6 million). After
depreciation/amortization, the loss before interest and taxes was EUR 11.3
million (H1 2007 loss: EUR 5.0 million). The after-tax loss for the period
ran at EUR 11.0 million (H1 2007 loss: EUR 4.9 million) which translates
into a loss per share of EUR 1.04 (H1 2007 loss EUR 0.46). Cash and cash
equivalents as at June 30, 2008 came to EUR 9.1 million. The Management
Board has revised the forecast for 2008 downwards: While it continues to
expect sales of EUR 90-100 million, it anticipates the loss before
interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rising from the EUR 5
million originally expected to EUR 8-9 million.
Own collection of used cooking oil feedstock expanded by over 50 %
Petrotec boosted its own collection of feedstock by 52.6 % on H1 2007.
Petrotecs Vital Fettrecycling subsidiary now handles disposal of used
frying fats for over 16,000 hospitality outlets and food producers in
Europe. Petrotec has achieved the growth both organically through its own
distribution chain and alliances as well as by M&As.
Biodiesel from used cooking oil: 77% reduction in CO2 emissions
The biodiesel Petrotec produces with its proprietary technology from the
refined used cooking oil feedstock is by far the most climate-friendly and
sustainable biodiesel that can be produced. It is made from waste and does
not compete with food production, as do fresh vegetable oil feedstock. At
the end of January 2008, the EU Commission confirmed in its EU Directive on
'Promoting the Use of Renewable Energy Sources' that biodiesel made from
used cooking oils has a CO2 reduction potential of at least 77%. Meaning
that biodiesel derived from used cooking oil contributes more than twice as
much to avoiding CO2 emissions than does biodiesel based on rapeseed oil
feedstock (36 %).
New 100,000 t biodiesel plant in Emden goes on stream
At the end of June 2008, following trial production Petrotecs Emden plant
went fully operational. Thanks to the new plant, Petrotec now has two
plants with a combined annual total production capacity of 185,000 t
(approx. 210 million liters). With the two facilities, Petrotec is superbly
positioned to serve the blending market, the dominant one in Europe, as a
port-side location and supply security through at least two production
plants is a key precondition for doing business with the international oil
majors. In H1 2008, Petrotec produced about 34,900 t of biodiesel, slightly
up on the figure of 34,500 t in the same period the prior year.
Blending market dominates
Cost of materials as a ratio of sales edged up slightly from 89.0% in H1
2007 to 91.2 %. Primarily, this reflects higher purchasing prices for used
cooking oil and other commodities. Petrotec sold the lions share of its
output to oil companies in the B5 blending market. Sales through the B100
pure-grade market were slight, firstly because of the higher tax of EUR
0.15 per liter of pure biodiesel in effect since Jan. 1, 2008, clearly
dampened demand and secondly as Petrotec largely committed its production
capacities to contracts with blending market players. On the sales side, in
the January-June period, the biodiesel sales split was 65 % (H1 2007: 37 %)
for B5 business and 35 % (H1 2007: 63 %) for B100 contracts.
New staff hired
In first-half 2008, Petrotec increased its payroll by more than 50% from 64
(H1 2007) to 99 staff members to be able to handle future growth and with
a view to turnkey of the new biodiesel plant in Emdens deep-sea port, ,
the pan-European expansion of own used cooking oil collection efforts, and
the strengthening of international distribution of our biodiesel. Thus, the
personnel expense rose on the year by about 80 % to EUR 2.9 million.
Assets and financial position
The Petrotec AG equity/assets ratio as at June 30, 2008 came to 53.0 %
(Dec. 31, 2007: 63.6 %), and cash and cash equivalents totaled EUR 9.1
million (Dec. 31, 2007: EUR 20.5 million). As at June 30, 2008 the Petrotec
balance sheet total was EUR 76.4 million EUR or EUR 4.6 million down on the
figure as at Dec. 31, 2007. In Q1, Petrotec invested EUR 2.7 million in the
construction of the new biodiesel plant in Emden. Shareholders capital
fell, specifically owing to the loss for the period, to EUR 40.5 million
(Dec. 31, 2007: EUR 51.5 million). Liabilities due to banks remained
unchanged at EUR 18.1 million.
Outlook: Impending losses impact on annual earnings
As of the beginning of the third quarter, we have been witnessing
corrections to the price levels on the markets for crude oil and
agricultural commodities. Thus, the commodities boom, which has been
ongoing for several years now, would seem at least to be entering
consolidation. The price per barrel of crude oil WTI fell 20% within the
space of six weeks and a ton of palm oil has become 27 % cheaper, while the
price of rapeseed oil is down 13 %. To date, Petrotec has not benefited
from this trend when buying in feedstock as the prices for used cooking
oils typically respond only after a clear time lag to changes owing to the
heterogeneous market, which lacks transparency. However, we discern falling
price levels for the remainder of the year.
With its new biodiesel plant in Emden, which is now fully operational,
Petrotec will be able to enhance its position in the procurement and
selling markets and improve cost structures. With the end of the sales
contracts signed in winter 2007 for the period through September 2008
Petrotec will once again be in a position to do biodiesel business in line
with market conditions, and by locking into the biodiesel price and the
price for used cooking oil generate a profit.
The Management Board is revising the forecast for 2008 issued at the end of
May, 2008, firstly because given the prevailing market conditions from
todays viewpoint there are insufficient opportunities to avoid the
accruals established for impending losses and secondly the biodiesel plant
in Emden will contribute less to total production output this business year
than originally assumed. The Management Board continues to assume that
sales for business 2008 will be in the order of EUR 90-100 million, but
that the loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization will be
EUR 8-9 million, as compared with the prior forecast of a loss of EUR 5
million at EBITDA level.
Disclaimer
This press information constitutes neither an offer to buy or to sell
shares or other securities issued by Petrotec AG, nor a call for submission
of offers to buy or subscribe to securities. The shares offered during the
IPO have already been placed.
About PETROTEC
Since November 2006, Petrotec AG has been listed in the first-tier market
of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under WKN PET111, ISIN DE000PET1111.
Petrotec is one of the pioneers of the German biodiesel industry. The
company started as long ago as 1998 in developing a process to produce
biodiesel from used frying and deep-frying oil. Petrotecs first industrial
biodiesel production plant went turn-key in 2000. Petrotecs proprietary
technology is able in a single fully continuous process to transform virgin
vegetable oils such as rapeseed, soybean or palm oil as well as
hard-to-process oils and fats such as used cooking oils, animal fats and
oils or fish oil into biodiesel. In other words, it is truly a
multi-feedstock technology. The annual capacity of the plant in Borken
(Westphalia), Germany, is 85,000 t biodiesel. In the first half of 2008 a
second production plant will go into operation in the deep-sea port of
Emden with an annual capacity of 100,000 t. Unlike many of its competitors,
Petrotec has for years now in its ongoing operations primarily produced
biodiesel from used cooking oils in a fully continuous process. Treated
used cooking oils as the feedstock for biodiesel production are up to 50
percent cheaper to procure than the rapeseed oil predominantly used by our
rivals in Europe. This gives Petrotec a costs edge over other manufacturers
of biodiesel, as 70-90 percent of biodiesel production costs relate to the
feedstock.
For further information, please contact
PETROTEC AG
Falk von Kriegsheim
Head of Investor Relations / Public Relations
Fürst-zu-Salm-Salm Strasse 18
46325 Borken
Germany
Tel +49 (0)2862 910060
Fax +49 (0)2862 9100760
Mobil +49 (0)173 6291344
f.kriegsheim@petrotec.de
www.petrotec.de
DGAP 21.08.2008
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Language: English
Issuer: PETROTEC AG
Fürst-zu- Salm-Salm-Str. 18 46325 Borken-Burlo
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)2862 9100 19
Fax: +49 (0)2862 9100 99
E-mail: info@petrotec.de
Internet: www.petrotec.de
ISIN: DE000PET1111
WKN: PET111
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
in Berlin, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart
End of News DGAP News-Service
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
DGAP-Adhoc: PETROTEC AG: Sales boosts by 29 %
| Source: EQS Group AG