Active Energy says new high-volume hardwood production line operational

(ShareCast News) - Active Energy said the new high-volume hardwood production line at its AEG WoodFibre Yuzhny Port processing facility in Ukraine is now fully operational.The AIM-listed supplier of industrial wood fibre, timberland and natural resources development services said the new handling and processing equipment is part of a large-scale investment programme to facilitate a four-fold increase in its production capacity to enable it to meet the rising demand for wood fibre from its Turkish MDF manufacturing customer base.Active Energy said the AEG WoodFibre division reported revenues of $17.4m in 2014, up from $1.6m in the previous year.The company said that as previously announced, the expanded hardwood wood chip facility is scheduled to be joined by a new softwood wood chip production line in the first quarter of next year.Chief executive officer Richard Spinks said: ""The new equipment will enable us to build on the long-standing commercial relationships that we have developed with our existing customers, and should introduce further opportunities within the Turkish MDF manufacturing sector."The board and I remain very confident in this area of AEG's business, and we look forward to updating our shareholders on the increased 2016 hardwood and softwood off-take contracts that we are currently negotiating."