Velocys narrows loss after cutting back costs

(Sharecast News) - Velocys on Wednesday cuts its annual losses by slashing its administrative expenses, in part as staff numbers were reduced following the disposal of its UK R&D facility in June 2017.The advanced biofuels company's loss before tax came in at £30.9m for 2018, down from £55.3m the year before, as administrative expenses were cut by 45% to £29.1m thanks to the aforementioned drop in staff numbers and the completion of work on the project development of Velocys' Mississippi bio-refinery project in the third quarter of 2018.Velocys said it expects its two primary biorefinery projects, which are under development in Immingham, UK, and Natchez, US, will each process over 300,000 tonnes of dry solid waste feedstock per year once completed, converting them into 60m to 80m litres of renewable fuels per year with a carbon intensity between zero and 30% of that of comparable fossil fuels.Meanwhile, revenue came in at £0.7m, down 13% on the year before, with the revenue primarily the result of the lease of a catalyst related to the ENVIA project in Oklahoma.Cash and cash equivalents stood at £7.0m at the end of the year, up from £2.1m at the end of 2017The AIM traded company said its next phase will be to conclude all pre-front end engineering design (FEED) for its two projects and reach final agreements with strategic partners on the funding of the two-phase FEED to allow both projects to reach financial close during 2020.The company has secured £4.5m in partner funding for the project in Immingham, which has also been awarded £0.4m from the UK Department for Transport.Velocys' shares were down 3.59% at 3.76p to 1248 BST.