Abengoa posts €7.6bn loss for 2016

Spanish ethanol producer Abengoa has announced a €7.6 billion loss for 2016, six times more than the previous year, as the multinational attempts to restructure.

Abengoa shareholders last year approved a €1.17 billion rescue package from banks and investment funds, following years of frenzied, unsustainable expansion worldwide.

The company has recently published its 2016 financial results.

"These results must be seen in the context of Abengoa's restructuring," CEO Gonzalo Urquijo Fernandez de Araoz said in a statement.

He added: “The 2016 financial statements must reflect the adjustments derived from the restructuring and the company’s performance impacted by the long negotiation with financial creditors. As soon as the financial restructuring is completed, for which our creditors have today once more confirmed their support, the subsequent debt reduction will restore financial stability.”

Last year, Abengoa, which deals in solar and wind power, biofuels and water management, published losses of €1.2 billion.

However, after drawn-out negotiations with its creditors, Abengoa avoided bankruptcy in November, with 50% of the Seville-based group's capital being exchanged for the rescue funds.

Abengoa's debt has affected many of its projects around the world, which it has either been unable to keep constructing or operating. The company’s bioenergy arm was particularly hard-hit, with several bioethanol plants in the US and Europe paralysed by bankruptcy proceedings.