Accoya production capacity set to double
as Accsys nears breakeven
Accsys Technologies has been
quoted for more than a decade and
it has finally reached a point where
it can start to fully benefit from
the technology it has developed.
Accsys has technology based on
the acetylation of wood, which
gives the wood a longer life. The
main product is Accoya and there
are plans to double capacity at
the company’s existing Arnhem
plant. Accsys has been managing
its capacity and successfully raised
prices last year.
Solvay still plans to open its own
Accoya factory but for the next five
years it has committed to buying
76,000 cubic metres of Accoya from
Accsys to be sold in central Europe
and Scandinavia.
There are also plans for a
dedicated 30,000 tonnes a year
Tricoya wood elements acetylation
plant in Hull in partnership with
Medite and BP. The Tricoya will be
sold for the production of highperformance
MDF and particle
board panels. Additional funding
is required for this plant but Accsys
should not need to contribute more
than €1m more in cash.
In the year to March 2016, group
revenues improved from €46.1m to
€52.8m, while the underlying loss
was slashed from €5m to €500,000.
Accoya volumes rose by 1%. The
increase in licence income from
€400,000 to €2.8m, because of a
new agreement with Solvay, helped
to boost margins but this was offset
by higher Tricoya costs. There was
still €8.2m in the bank at the end of
March 2016, after investing €4.1m
for work on the new Tricoya plant
and other capex.
The initial expansion phase will
increase production at Arnhem
by 50% and this should be up and
running in 2017. Growth in Accoya
sales will be constrained until this
capacity comes on stream.