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(Alliance News) - Active Energy Group PLC on Monday said its annual loss narrowed significantly last year and committed to maintaining its disciplined approach to its balance sheet, saying it expects to report "significant commercial progress" over the next few years.
Active Energy is a London-headquartered biomass-focused renewable energy company. Its flagship product is coal replacement fuel CoalSwitch, which uses waste from lumber operations to create energy-efficient biomass.
Pretax loss for 2022 was USD562,035, compared to a USD4.7 million loss in 2021. It declared no revenue for 2022, unchanged from the year before, so the narrowed loss was due to lower costs and charges.
Impairment charges halved to USD1.0 million from USD2.0 million, while administrative expenses were trimmed by 1.7% to USD2.86 million from USD2.90 million. What's more, Active Energy reported USD24,173 in net finance income in 2022, compared to USD303,712 in net costs in 2021. Most significantly, foreign exchange gains more than quadrupled to USD3.3 million from USD685,920.
Cash at December 31 was USD2.6 million, up 35% from USD1.9 million at the same time one year prior.
"The balance sheet...reflected control of cash and costs and this discipline is being maintained as we continue to actively expand our technology and business development efforts in the coming months," said Chief Executive Officer Michael Rowan.
Active Energy said its engineering partner Player Design International confirmed that fuel production at its new Ashland Reference Facility will start in the third quarter. This will allow Active Energy to make its first CoalSwitch customer deliveries. It also said CoalSwitch will probably qualify for several subsidies, incentives and carbon credits to make it an even more attractive fuel compared with coal in US markets.
"Active Energy is now well prepared for growth and, with the current level of customer engagement, we look forward to reporting on significant commercial progress in 2023 and beyond," Rowan commented.
Shares in Active Energy were up 0.9% at 6.81 pence in London on Monday morning.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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