Kedco cuts losses and ups revenues

CORK-based alternative energy firm, Kedco has cut its first-half losses in half and upped revenues by nearly 30%.

The AIM-listed Monkstown company – which largely seeks to transform collected waste and regenerate and sell it as electricity power – has reported a pre-tax loss of €1.5 million for the six months to the end of December. This compared favourably to a loss of €3m for the same period in the previous year.

The company also said it had generated additional capital – from institutional investors and the Irish Government – of €3.1m during the year. Total revenue for the half year amounted to €4.2m, up by 28% on a year-on-year basis.

Kedco’s management called the interim results a good showing for the kind of tough trading conditions seen over the past year and updated on its planned gas energy generation project in Newry, which was set to be operational during the first half of this year but has already been put back to the second half of the year.

Financing constraints had put the project – a £15m, 4 megawatt “gasification” plant – on hold. Kedco has already put £5m into the project, but recently said a lack of further finance had delayed the launch.

The company added, yesterday that a further €2.5m was needed to get the first stage of the project up and running and that it was hopeful of lining up a large funding partner in due course.