Accsys make acetylated wood panels and wood chips at a plant in the Netherlands, which is now working near its capacity of 40,0000 cubic metres per year. Earlier plans to license manufacturing rights to other companies did not work out, so last year Accsys launched projects to double the capacity of the existing Dutch plant and to open a new wood chip plant in Hull in conjunction with Medite, a maker of synthetic boards, and BP.
Groundwork has started on the Netherlands extension with completion of an extra 20,000 cubic metres capacity in late 2017. Further increases will depend on results. The legal agreements for the Hull plant should be in place by the end of March 2017 with the plant opening at the end of 2018. So, no big changes expected next year (2017).
Interim results for the half-year to 30 September were published on 22 November. Although the sales volume of wood products was up 4 per cent, total revenue was down at €25.1million (H1 2015: €26.3) mainly due to the expected lower income from licensing.
Loss before taxation increased from €0.1m in H1 2015 to €1.3m in H1 2016. This was explained by earlier than usual maintenance down time and some disruption of the wood supply. Currently, almost all the wood comes from radiata pine forests in New Zealand, for which a lead time of up to 6 months is needed. Accsys clearly need to improve their supply chain, and announced various measures to do so in their webcast on 22 November.
The market for acetylated wood products seems to be holding up, with no Brexit effects yet observed. It is all about building extra capacity and being ready to exploit it when it arrives. The share price dropped after the interim results were published but has partially recovered to 64p (12-month high: 74.6p, low: 56p).
