Alter NRG reports second quarter 2010 activities and financial results
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OTCQX - ANRGF
CALGARY, Aug. 9 /CNW/ - (TSX - NRG; OTCQX - ANRGF) - Alter NRG Corp., ("Alter NRG" or the "Company") is pleased to report on its corporate activities and financial results for the six month period ended June 30, 2010.
Q2 HIGHLIGHTS
Alter NRG provides clean energy solutions that are economically viable and environmentally sustainable. It operates through two wholly owned subsidiaries:
Westinghouse Plasma Corp. ("WPC") - the industry leading plasma gasification technology that provides clean and renewable energy solutions from waste and biomass and converts it into syngas, electricity or ethanol. This is a commercially proven technology with facilities turning household waste into energy since 2002.
Clean Energy Developments ("CleanEnergy") - an industry leading geoexchange company that provides heating and cooling for homes, commercial and buildings using free energy from the earth. This is a solution that is used extensively in Europe as it reduces the use of fossil fuels for heating and cooling by up to 80%. In a highly fragmented industry, CleanEnergy provides complete solutions, which is unique to the Canadian market.
Westinghouse Plasma Corporation - Advanced 20 projects located worldwide which are in the engineering stage of the project development with a total sales value of over $500 million upon successful development. The Westinghouse plasma technology is being utilized in a total of 45 proposed projects being advanced worldwide. - Management travelled to China to follow up discussions with strategic partners advancing waste and biomass clean energy projects. The interest in China and Southeast Asia for the Westinghouse technology has been significant as the government is promoting renewable energy solutions. - Signed a $1 million equipment sale and strategic alliance agreement with Wuhan Kaidi Holding Investment Co., Ltd. ("Kaidi") to construct a commercial demonstration facility which is expected to be operational in Q1 of 2011. Kaidi has 150 biomass-to-energy projects which they expect to develop in the Central China market over the next 10 years using the WPC technology. The revenue to WPC per facility is expected to be $3 to $10 million. - Signed a strategic alliance agreement with SMS EnvoCare Ltd. ("SMS") which has constructed two hazardous waste-to-energy facilities in India using the Westinghouse Plasma technology. SMS is part of Central India's largest engineering company providing complete engineering and construction services, and with 140 people dedicated to their plasma gasification business they intend to aggressively develop 4 to 5 facilities in the next 2-3 years. Each facility represents $2 to $10 million of revenue to Westinghouse Plasma. - Continued discussions with 5 additional companies in SE Asia, and particularly in China that are interested in advancing next generation waste and biomass projects and expect to announce further project sales during 2010. China has aggressive mandates to improve waste disposal as well as create renewable energy and the Westinghouse Plasma technology is attracting significant interest by industry leading companies. - Concluded a sale for $1.5 million of Westinghouse Plasma torches to be used for metals recycling. The torches will be constructed and the revenue recorded in Q3 and Q4 of 2010. - Air Products, one of our key customers, press released they are advancing the Teesside project in Southern England using the Westinghouse Plasma technology and have received government grants. This project represents approximately a $20 million sale and is now entering into the detailed engineering phase of project development. - Performed 11 successful pilot tests during the quarter for Coskata, NRG Energy and Air Products. Coskata's Project Lighthouse continues to perform testing of their semi-commercial cellulosic ethanol plant that is located on the Westinghouse Plasma site and uses syngas from that operation to create ethanol. Coskata has performed 13 tests to date and expects an additional 39 tests to be completed in 2010. - Formally selected as the technology provider for an industrial waste project in Spain which has regulatory approval. This represents an approximate $12 million gasifier sale and the project has its feedstock agreement, offtake agreements, and government grants and is advancing its project financing efforts. - A waste-to-energy project in St. Lucie County Florida received its air permit in June of this year, which represents the first commercial permitting of a waste to energy facility using WPC plasma gasification in North America. The project is advancing through the development stage with the air permit being a key milestone in the process. CleanEnergy Developments - Sales of $1.4 million during the quarter which is an increase of 30% over the first quarter. During the quarter the Company closed on its two largest commercial jobs - a pool complex for the City of Cambridge for $550,000 and a condo development for a large real estate developer for $650,000. Both customers are expected to advance multiple jobs in the Ontario market in 2010 and 2011. - Announced the acquisition of 35% of Groundheat International Inc. ("Groundheat") for $2.3 million ($1.85 million cash, and $0.45 million in equipment). The acquisition of Groundheat provides additional drilling execution capability in the active Ontario market to support the CleanEnergy(TM) turnkey geoexchange solutions platform. - Arranged residential and commercial financing programs for geoexchange services across Canada which is expected to increase sales capability as well as differentiate our complete solution sales product in the market. - Announced the strategic relationship with the Remington Group, who is the other majority owner of Groundheat. Remington is a leading commercial and residential developer across Canada and has $15 million of geoexchange projects that they intend to complete in the next 2 years. Corporate - Added Joe Schwager as a director at the Annual General Meeting. Joe is the Founder and Managing Director of Juniper, a consultancy that has established itself over the last 18 years as the leading independent analyst of novel waste processing technologies, assessing their capabilities and limitations and their impact on market dynamic internationally. Through his advisory work Mr. Schwager has developed a unique perspective on the competitive landscape and the direction of government policy.
For more information on the Company's activities please visit www.alternrg.com or www.sedar.com to view Alter NRG's 2010 Second Quarter Report.
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Patience and fortitude have become more common themes in our offices recently. I cannot begin a review of our second quarter without first acknowledging our cash position has weakened. In short, realizing the potential inherent in the Canadian geoexchange and plasma gasification markets has taken more resources than originally projected.
Not passive, patience is active, concentrated strength persevering in the face of delay. While some goals are taking longer than anticipated to achieve, we strongly believe in what we are doing and have made important progress towards establishing a sales backlog and pipeline that is greater and more diversified than at any other time in the company's history. There have been strategic post-acquisition changes and we continue to have a strong executive team with a stead fast determination who have all worked extremely hard to improve financial performance. And it's working - June ended as the best month for CleanEnergy(TM) to date with a very promising balance of year for our plasma gasification business.
On the plasma side we've had some notable forward movement in both China and India that I would like to share. Entry into the Chinese market has been a strategic priority. In May we saw our past year's efforts culminate in a significant milestone through the signing of a definitive agreement with Wuhan Kaidi Holding Investment Co., Ltd (Kaidi) for a commercial demonstration facility, expected to be constructed by the end of 2010 and operational in early 2011. Kaidi is a respected and leading power industry public company in China with a history of working successfully with Western companies.
Their initial capital investment into the facility, which will result in approximately $1 million CDN in plasma torch orders and engineering services, access to all operational data from the facility and will establish fabrication capacity in the Chinese market, which is a critical step as this market adopts successful technology quickly.
The Chinese government also has aggressive renewable energy mandates and we are advancing other proposed projects with large scale public and state managed companies for municipal and hazardous waste feedstocks to further our strategic initiatives in this market. We remain positive about realizing positive operational and financial results in the coming months.
Kaidi has aggressive plans for more than 150 large scale biomass projects throughout China, and with the additional signing of a letter of intent with the company for licensing and development of future biomass-to-energy projects, there are some tremendous opportunities ahead of us.
In India with the signing of a 2 year Strategic Alliance Agreement we advanced our relationship with SMS EnvoCare Ltd. who previously constructed and currently operates two hazardous waste-to-energy facilities using the Westinghouse Plasma technology. As way of a reminder, the previous owners of WPC sold torches and a gasifier design concept. Under our management, we have significantly advanced the technical design to improve operations, reduce capital costs and improve reliability, and SMS has acknowledged this expertise by entering into this new relationship.
SMS having demonstrated expertise in balance of plant design engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation, commissioning, operation and plant maintenance for waste-to-energy using plasma gasification, we believe they are an excellent partner to help Alter NRG deploy plasma gasification systems for treating hazardous and other waste streams in several geographic markets (but with a focus in India, Southeast Asia and Africa).
SMS has aggressive plans to develop and build further plasma gasification facilities for itself and its customers over the next 2-3 years. Under the agreement we will provide our plasma gasification technology including plasma torches along with engineering support and expect revenues of $2 to $10 million per hazardous waste project which will have total capital requirements in the order of $15 to $30 million. Alter NRG will also benefit from having access to the operational and environmental data at SMS's two existing facilities as well as future facilities so that we can continue to improve our product offering.
On the Geoexchange side we are also making significant progress. Now having owned the geoexchange business for approximately 9 months we have more clarity on our expectations of the future. First, the market potential is better than we expected; There is strong demand for geoexchange in the commercial sector as municipalities look to reduce their carbon footprint and use of energy, as developers and builders look to sell "green buildings and overall green communities" and as businesses look to take advantage of the significant carbon credits and tax benefits associated with geoexchange. Our pipeline of opportunities has grown exponentially each quarter and continues to grow. Second, the CleanEnergy(TM) name is strong in the industry; Customers are looking for a broader product offering that reduces their risk and allows for a more seamless integration of service. This quarter we closed on the two largest jobs in the company's history and have high probability orders for much larger commercial business still. Third, execution capability is the key challenge. We looked to overcome that through the acquisition of Groundheat which provides us 6 drilling rigs in the greater Toronto area to execute on our complete commercial geoexchange solution.
Things look very positive to achieve our goal to grow this to a $100 million business unit in the next 3 to 5 years, however, we still have a lot of work ahead of us and, as always, things take longer than expected to change a pre-existing corporate culture and improve processes.
In terms of capital on our balance sheet, management is focused on this issue and have a wide variety of ways to maintain a strong balance sheet. The first of course is bringing a large plasma sale to the finish line as soon as possible and we are laser focused on achieving that in the next 3 to 12 months. However, this also includes active processes to sell non-core assets including the Bruderheim assets and also the Fox Creek coal resource. We have active offers and negotiations for both that are expected to bring capital into the company. As well, having two leading technologies provides a multitude of other balance sheet strengthening options which also include exclusive license fees for geographic areas, creation of joint ventures and sidecar companies that focus on project development, and other creative solutions that make us confident that we can maintain a strong balance sheet to continue to move forward aggressively.
With these above milestones in combination with our progress in the North American and European markets we are facing an upside in a market that has been slow to develop due to non technology based factors. It has been said that "if we are facing in the right direction all we have to do is keep on walking." And so we keep on walking with optimism and confidence in the markets, excited about the opportunities that lie ahead and with appreciation to our shareholders for recognizing the giant strides we are making.
SELECT FINANCIAL RESULTS ($) June 30, 2010 June 30, 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total assets $ 97,710,671 $ 109,968,453 Total liabilities 20,980,859 23,664,397 Total equity 76,729,812 $ 86,304,056 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Three months ended Three months ended June 30, 2010 June 30, 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenue, interest and other income $ 2,125,673 $ 357,085 Loss (4,355,621) (6,087,592) Loss per share - basic and diluted (0.07) (0.11) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Six months ended Six months ended June 30, 2010 June 30, 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenue, interest and other income $ 4,066,473 1,607,549 Loss (9,281,376) (9,033,141) Loss per share - basic and diluted (0.15) (0.16) -------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more information on the Company's financial results please visit www.alternrg.com or www.sedar.com to view Alter NRG's 2010 Second Quarter Report.
The Toronto Stock Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Advisory Respecting Forward-Looking Statements:
This news release contains certain forward-looking information and statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends", "confident", "might" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. In particular, but without limiting the foregoing, this news release contains forward-looking information and statements pertaining to the following: availability and cost of key materials and labour and availability of funds with respect to the amount of capital expenditures and scheduled commencement of operations; timing of regulatory approval including various permits from the applicable government authorities; the assessment of capital markets including the availability of debt and equity in current market conditions; commodity prices for electricity, natural gas, coal and other resources that impact the Corporation's operations directly and indirectly; extent of investment by government authorities in infrastructure projects; the financial and operational health of key partners in various projects; the continued development of the Corporation's technology and its use in various applications and other expectations, beliefs, plans, goals, objectives, assumptions, information and statements about possible future events, conditions, results of operations or performance. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release.
The forward-looking information and statements included in this news release are not guarantees of future performance and should not be unduly relied upon. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and assumptions, based on information currently available to management. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, many of which are beyond the control of the Corporation. Among the material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are: that the information is of a preliminary nature and may be subject to further adjustment; unforeseen environmental effects; the completion of strategic partner's projects; arrangements with key suppliers; potential product liability and other claims; other business risks outlined in this news release, including risks associated with the proprietary technology; the possible unavailability of financing at competitive rates and the related effect on development activities; the effect of energy price fluctuations; changes in government regulation, including changes to environmental regulations; the effects of competition; the dependence on senior management and key personnel, and fluctuations in currency exchange rates and interest rates, as well as those factors discussed in or referred to under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 29, 2010 available at www.sedar.com. Such information and statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information or statements.
The Company cautions that the foregoing list of assumptions, risks and uncertainties is not exhaustive. The forward-looking information and statements contained in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required pursuant to applicable securities laws.
For further information: Mark Montemurro, President and Chief Executive Officer, (403) 806-3877, [email protected]; Daniel Hay, Chief Financial Officer, (403) 214-4235, [email protected]
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