Pounds 1.2m Loss in Energy Company’s First Results Since Shares Flotation

Renewable energy company Helius Energy has posted a pounds 1.2m loss in its first set of results since floating on the stock exchange in January.

The Middlesbrough company has nonetheless made some progress towards its power plant building programme. It raised just over pounds 2m in the float on the Alternative Investment Market and plans to build three pounds 100m plants in the UK and a number of smaller plants in Africa.

The company is a specialist in biomass energy, using cereal crops and forestry products to generate electricity.

Helius currently operates with just 10 staff, but says it will require 240 to operate its three proposed 65-megawatt plants. Besides Seaton Port in Hartlepool, the company’s managing director John Seed has already tied up a three-year option for a site at Stallingborough in north Lincoln- shire.

A third plant is expected to be built on the North-West coast, at a site yet to be named. Mr Seed said yesterday: “I am delighted with the advances that Helius Energy has made since its listing on AIM.

“We have moved forwards on our flagship Stallingborough site with the appointment of experienced contractors who will help ensure a rapid and reliable construction programme following a successful consent under Section 36 of the Electricity Act.

“Additionally the increased Government support for dedicated biomass in the recent White Paper on Energy further strengthens the viability of this important energy resource.”

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