DGAP-News: PETROTEC AG: Petrotec reduces losses; restructuring aimed at ensuring company's survival

PETROTEC AG / Quarter Results/Restructure of Company

22.05.2009 

Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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Corporate News

Petrotec reduces losses 

Restructuring aimed at ensuring company's survival

  - Loss before interest and taxes decreased by around 60 %

  - Sales fall to EUR 5.5 million

  - Liquid funds of EUR 1.7 million

Borken, May 22nd, 2009 -In Q1 2009 (January 1 through March 31, 2009)
Petrotec AG (ISIN DE000PET1111) generated consolidated sales of EUR 5.5
million (prior year: EUR 15.7 million). Given the continuing poor market
conditions, in the quarter under review production levels remained low at
around 8,600 tons of biodiesel (15,750 tons in Q1 2008). As a result of the
ease in the price of raw materials, slightly lower personnel expenses and a
margin-driven purchasing policy the company reduces losses before earnings
and tax to EUR 1.8 million (prior year loss: EUR 6.1 million).On account of
the adjustments after impairment tests in accordance with IAS 36 conducted
in the past two years, amortization and depreciation fell, as did other
operating expenses, which in the same period in 2008 included provisions
for pending losses totaling EUR 4.6 million. This means that the loss
before interest and tax of EUR 3.1 million is almost 60 % lower than the
loss of EUR 7.6 million incurred in the same period one year prior. After
financing expenses of EUR 0.5 million (EUR 0.3 million in Q1 2008) Petrotec
posted a loss for the period of EUR 3.6 million (prior year's loss: EUR 7.4
million) and a loss per share of EUR 0.34 (Q1 2008 loss per share: EUR
0.71).

The situation at Petrotec can still be regarded as tense. Financially and
with regard to operations the company is in a restructuring process.
Without the financial support ICG already in place it would very probably
have had to apply for insolvency. Petrotec will be reliant on the support
of ICG in the future as well. As at March 31, 2009 liquid funds totaled EUR
1.7 million.

Own collection 
In the first three months, Petrotec kept the amount of used cooking oil it
collected itself at around 2,600 tons constant compared with the prior
year. The company ceased its disposal activities in Poland and France.
Following the low price levels for used cooking oil in late December 2008,
in the quarter under review the price of used cooking oil rose again. At
the end of the quarter Petrotec was paying some 20 % more than at the
beginning per tonne of used cooking oil. Nevertheless, compared with the
relevant quarter one year prior, this is still more than 50% less per
tonne.

Marketing 
In the period under review, Petrotec sold around 8,100 t biodiesel (Q1
2008: about 16,900 t). Unit sales in Q1 2009 were as a whole low, as a
cost-covering spread between the purchasing price of the feedstock and the
selling price for the biodiesel could not be achieved on an ongoing basis
and also unit sales in the pure fuels market (B100) saw depressed demand
owing to taxation being raised to EUR 0.18 per liter. On the sales side, in
the first quarter of the current business year the split for biodiesel
sales was 76.4 % in the blending market and 23.6 % from B100 contracts.

Assets and financial position 
As at March 31, 2009 the equity/assets ratio of Petrotec AG was 16.4 %
(compared with 24.7 % at Dec. 31, 2008). The balance sheet total as at
March 31, 2009 was EUR 37.1 million and thus EUR 2.1 million down on the
figure at Dec. 31, 2008. As a result of the loss for the period equity
capital fell to EUR 6.1 million compared with EUR 9.7 million as at Dec.
31, 2008. As at March 31, 2009 noncurrent liabilities to banks totaled EUR
17.5 million.

Outlook
Even though commodity prices have recovered somewhat in the first few
months of 2009, from today's point of view given the on-going recession
there is as yet no basic change to this situation foreseeable. This will
also impact the Petrotec business model.

Petrotec has already initiated restructuring measures aimed at
substantially lowering fixed costs and giving the company greater
flexibility with regard to the purchase of raw materials and sales so as to
be able to respond dynamically in the volatile competition for biofuels. In
support the Management Board initiated a wide-ranging restructuring program
and will make more than 20 employees redundant across all company
divisions.

Overall the difficult economic and competition conditions do not yet permit
a concrete outlook for business 2009 beyond the figures outlined in the
Management Report in the 2008 Annual Report.

Disclaimer
As far as this ad hoc release contains forward-looking statements, these
forward-looking statements are based on current assumptions and forecasts
made by the management of Petrotec AG and other information currently
available to Petrotec. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future
results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and
the estimates given here. Petrotec does not intend, and does not assume any
liability whatsoever, to update these forward-looking statements or to
conform them to future events or developments.

Über PETROTEC
Since November 2006, Petrotec AG has been listed in the Prime Standard
segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under WKN PET111, ISIN
DE000PET1111. Petrotec is one of the pioneers of the German biodiesel
industry. The company started as early as 1998 with the development of a
process to produce biodiesel from used frying and deep-frying oil.
Petrotec's first industrial biodiesel production plant went turn-key in
2000. Petrotec's proprietary technology is capable of transforming virgin
vegetable oils such as rapeseed, soybean or palm oil as well as
hard-to-process oils and fats such as used cooking oils, animal fats and
oils or fish oil in a single fully continuous process into biodiesel and,
thus, is truly a multi-feedstock technology. The annual capacity of the
plant in Borken (Westphalia), Germany, is 85,000 t biodiesel. In the first
half of 2008 a second production has commenced operations in the deep-sea
port of Emden with an annual capacity of 100,000 t. Unlike many of its
competitors, Petrotec in its ongoing operations has for years now primarily
produced biodiesel from used cooking oils in a fully continuous process.
Treated used cooking oils as feedstock for biodiesel production is up to 50
percent cheaper to procure than the rapeseed oil predominantly used by
Petrotec's rivals in Europe. This enhances Petrotec's cost-competitiveness
over other manufacturers of biodiesel, as 70 up to more than 90 percent of
biodiesel production costs relate to raw materials.

- End of the disclosure -
DGAP 22.05.2009 
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Language:     English
Issuer:       PETROTEC AG
              Fürst-zu- Salm-Salm-Str. 18
              46325 Borken-Burlo
              Deutschland
Phone:        +49 (0)2862 9100 19
Fax:          +49 (0)2862 9100 99
E-mail:       info@petrotec.de
Internet:     www.petrotec.de
ISIN:         DE000PET1111
WKN:          PET111
Listed:       Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
              in Berlin, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart
 
End of News                                     DGAP News-Service
 
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