VLS.L Share News (VLS)

(Alliance News) - Velocys PLC on Thursday reported a widened loss reflecting increased project development costs for Altalto in Immingham, England and Bayou Fuels in Mississippi, US.

The sustainable fuels technology company said revenue in the six months ended June 30 totalled GBP61,000, up 27% from GBP48,000 the year before while grant income multiplied to GBP8.7 million from GBP1.5 million before.

Total operating expenses, including reference project development costs for Altalto and Bayou Fuels more than doubled to GBP17.2 million from GBP8.4 million last year, mainly due to Altalto commencing the FEED phase at the start of the year.

Operating loss widened to GBP8.5 million from GBP6.7 million while pretax loss also widened to GBP9.8 million from GBP5.7 million, including GBP800,000 of unrealised forex losses due to GBP to USD re-translation effects compared to last year's GBP1.3 million gain.

The firm said its current cash balance of GBP6 million provides working capital runway to approximately the year end based on current work plans.

Velocys added that completion of the conditional convertible loan notes funding led by Carbon Direct Capital will significantly extend the working capital runway and provide growth capital for the company's commercial and engineering scale-up and initial commissioning of its Columbus, Ohio reactor manufacturing facility as well as continuing to fund the key value inflection points in relation to the Bayou Fuels and Altalto Immingham reference projects.

The development capital private fundraise for both the Altalto and Bayou Fuels projects is underway and investment commitments are targeted for the end of the year, it added.

Following the development capital raise, Bayou Fuels front end engineering & design phase will start, generating license and engineering service fees for the company.

Velocys said financial results for the full year are expected to trend in line with results reported for the first half with an increase in revenue expected to be seen in 2024 following completion of the project funding and as the pipeline crystallises.

Shares in Velocys closed 0.5% lower at 1.40 pence in London on Thursday.

By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter

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