LONDON (Alliance News) - Timberland management and development services company Active Energy Group PLC on Monday said it will operate its three divisions under separate brands going forward.
The company said it will now operate three units. This will comprise AEG TimberLands, which will handle forestry asset management and development work; AEG WoodFibre, which will deal with its processed wood fibre manufacturing; and AEG CoalSwitch, its biomass coal replacement fuels and fuel processing systems unit.
For the AEG TimberLands business, the company expects initial forestry operations at its project in Alberta, Canada to start in the first quarter of 2016. It also welcomed recent comments from the local government in Alberta on policies to combat climate change, which it sees as positive for its prospects in the region.
In AEG WoodFibre, the company said though it traded profitably in the fourth quarter of 2015, this was not sufficient to offset the losses booked in the third quarter from the price hikes seen prior to the Ukrainian unprocessed wood export ban coming into effect. This, plus investments made in the company's other ventures, will result in the division posting a loss for 2015.
At the AEG CoalSwitch business, the company is holding talks with an unnamed European power utility and will start testing on this proposed partnership in the first quarter of 2016.
"To quote Aristotle, 'The whole is greater than the sum of its parts', and that is certainly true at AEG. In the past three years we have considerably expanded our original wood fibre processing operations, and simultaneously introduced two entirely new - but complementary - business activities into the company," said Chief Executive Richard Spinks.
"Although each our three trading divisions operate independently, the synergies between them are fundamental to the group's future success. They not only allow us control of the entire timber supply chain - reducing our reliance on external suppliers and market factors - but enable us to maximise the value and margin potential across all of our activities, and have opened the doors to a number of exciting new market opportunities," he added.
Shares in Active Energy were up 1.6% to 4.875 pence on Monday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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Active Energy (AEG)