Sun shines on Helius after whisky power firm moves into the black

HELIUS Energy, the Aim-quoted power developer backed by shipping line heir Alastair Salvesen, yesterday swung to a slim profit and revealed it is “on course and on budget” to complete its whisky-to-electricity plant on Speyside later this year.

The firm will take solid waste, known as “draff”, from more than a dozen distilleries around Rothes, in Moray, and burn it to generate electricity for about 9,000 homes and a nearby animal feed factory.

Helius said it is on course to finish building the £60.5 million power plant before the end of September and will have it fully operational before the end of June 2013.

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Chairman John Seed said he looked forward to the Rothes site “providing Helius with a source of income”, which could be used to finance the building of other projects.

The company already has planning permission to build at Avonmouth and said it is in discussions with investors to fund the project.

Helius posted a slim pre-tax profit of £72,000 for the year to 30 September, swinging from a £6.2m loss in the previous 12 months, after raising money in April from Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Dutch lender Rabobank to start work at Rothes.

But Will Wallis, an analyst at Numis Securities, said the firm’s profit and loss account was “irrelevant” giving that it is still developing its projects and instead highlighted that its cash reserves were in line with forecasts.

Wallis said: “We estimate cash burn of £1.25m per quarter, meaning the group is funded to at least early 2013. Well prior to that the group hopes to reach financial close on Avonmouth.”

He added that the firm could also receive £8.8m from power company RWE relating to the development of a biomass plant at Stallingborough, which Helius sold to RWE in 2008.