Verbio’s sales rise to more than €750 million

Verbio Bioenergie has reported a rise in sales to €754 million for the 2011 financial year, with EBITDA growing by more than 50%.

Using the profit made, €150 million will be invested into growing the biomethane sector of the company.

The main reason for the 45% increase in sales was because of third party sales from the Märka branch of the business, which made more than €71 million and the trade in fossil and biogenic fuels business, which produced over €80 million.

This was compared to results of €11 million and €19 million in the 2010 financial year, respectively.

The total asset value of Verbio also rose to €659 million from €608 million made the previous year.

For the first half of the 2012 financial year, the company expects its sales will be between €350 million and €400 million.

Throughout the coming year, Verbio plans to focus on its biodiesel and bioethanol activities, increasing its capacity for biomethane production from agricultural waste materials.

From now until 2014, the company says it will invest €50 million into expanding its biomethane facilities, and has put aside a further €100 million to build a new, waste material-based biomethane facility.

In the middle of March 2012, Verbio inaugurated with a straw processing plant that turns the feedstock into biomethane, with the company being based in Zörbig.

Claus Sauter, CEO of Verbio, says: ‘This technology makes Verbio one of the first companies to manufacture second-generation biofuel from waste materials at an industrial level. By using straw, we can produce our biofuel verbiogas without the need for any food products, without indirect changes to land use and with the largest CO₂ reduction compared with fossil fuels.’