U.K.-based Veloycs plc on Aug. 6 released final audited financial results for 2019, providing an update on company operations and its proposed waste-to-biofuel plants under development in Immingham, U.K., and Natchez, Mississippi.

“In 2019, we moved forward from demonstrating our technology in 2018 to manufacturing and delivery of reactors, catalysts and engineering services to our clients Red Rock Biofuels and Toyo Engineering,” said Henrik Wareborn, CEO of Velocys, in a statement. "Velocys is on track to create significant value as a technology enabler of advanced sustainable fuels.”

Regarding the COVID-19 crisis, Wareborn said the company took measures in response to the crisis at a very early stage. He said that response has allowed the company to operate near to normal, satisfy delivery requirements to its clients and stay on schedule with its reference projects.

The financial report explains that Velocy’s hybrid business model centers around securing the adoption of its technology solution to the two reference projects being developed in the U.K. and Mississippi while also supplying and serving third-party projects.

According to Velocys, negotiations are underway with U.S. parties to secure FEED funding for the Mississippi biorefinery project. “This ensures our technology is deployed in our chosen market of waste-to-liquid fuels, whilst at the same time we have developed an integrated technology package that can be deployed for sustainable feedstock to liquid fuels production for new customers around the world,” the company said in the financial report. “We are supplying our [Fischer-Tropsch] technology to our current commercial clients, Red Rock Biofuels and Toyo Engineering. They are both making good progress on their respective biomass to fuels projects.”

The company’s U.K. project, known as the Altalto Immingham Bioenergy Project, secured planning permission in May 2020. “This will be followed by further technical work, supported by Shell and British Airways, to further de-risk the project and enable an investment decision to be taken in 2022,” the company continued. “Development work in 2019 on our Mississippi Biorefinery Project included securing an agreement with a subsidiary of Occidental to provide carbon dioxide sequestration facilities and development of a solar power solution. The inclusion of these two opportunities results in both significant reductions in capex and a facility that has the ability to produce sustainable jet fuel with a negative carbon intensity.”

Regarding the third-party Red Rock Biofuels project, Velocys said it delivered the first of four reactors to the client last year. The remaining three reactors were delivered during the first half of 2020. Construction on the facility, which is located in Lakeview, Oregon, began in 2018. Operations are expected to begin next year.

Velocys reported revenue of £332,000 for 2019, compared to £664,000 in 2018. Gross profit for 2019 was £200,000, down from £391,000. Operating loss was £ 9.62million, compared to an operating loss of £18.63 million reported for 2018. Loss for the financial year attributable to the owners of Velcoys was £9.71 million, compared to a loss of £19.67 million the previous year. Loss per share attributable to the owners of Velocys was 1.91 pence, compared to 5.75 pence in 2018.