Aventine Renewable Energy reports Q2 net loss

Aventine Renewable fuels producer Renewable Energy Holdings has reported a net loss of $23.9 million (€16.7 million) for Q2 2011, ended 30 June.

This is compared to the $9.3 million net loss for the same three-month period in 2010. Net loss for the six months ended 30 June 2011 was $43.1 million, compared to a net loss of $16.4 million for the four months ended 30 June 2011, and a net loss of $266.3 million for the two months ended 28 February 2010.

'This was a challenging quarter for the company, with industry wide margins falling through most of the period,' says Thomas Manual, CEO of Aventine Renewable Energy. 'Operationally, we continued to experience production problems at our Mt. Vernon facility leading to an extensive shutdown taken in July.'

Revenues were $213 million for the three months ended 30 June 2011, compared to $96.9 million for the three months ended 30 June 2010.

Revenues were $411.1 million for the six months ended 30 June 2011, compared to $133.9 million and $77.7 million, respectively, for the four months ended 30 June 2010 and the two months ended 28 February 2010.

'We expect to see improvements in our profitability over the next several quarters assuming industry wide margins are maintained at the current levels. With the upturn in the margin environment we have been able to lock in profitable margins on approximately 12% of our current production for the remainder of the year,' comments Manual.

'Since quarter end we have made progress at the Mt. Vernon facility. Production there has stabilised for the first time since we started the plant. This is an encouraging development. We have also made significant strides to improve co-product yields at our Pekin plant. This coupled with the return of the Aurora East plant to production should have a positive impact on profits.'

Manual also notes, 'We are in the process of making system improvements at the Canton facility and expect to begin startup procedures in mid-October.'

Source: Aventine Renewable Energy