Hydrodec Group reported an overall loss – including discontinued operations – of $5.3 million for the six months ending June 30, compared to an $8.4 million loss for 2015s first half. Revenues rebounded from a year earlier, up almost 150 percent.
Revenues from the companys continuing core rerefining business rose 148 percent to $8.1 million, compared to $3.3 million for the year-earlier period. Hydrodec attributed the improvement to full commissioning of its new transformer oil rerefinery in Canton, Ohio, at the end of 2015 and increased market penetration.
Sales of the companys transformer oil and naphthenic process oil reached almost 16.8 million liters for the first half of 2016, up 217 percent from 5.3 million liters, which included 3.6 million liters of traded oil pending recommissioning of the Canton plant.
CEO Chris Ellis said that in the United States, the main drivers in 2016 were to refocus on Hydrodecs core transformer oil rerefining technology by optimizing performance of the Canton facility, and to increase production levels by leveraging the experience gained since fully commissioning the plant at the end of last year along with making specific targeted operating improvements. The improvements were validated by the lower number of production hours lost through unscheduled stoppages and the record monthly production performance of 2.8 million liters at the plant in May, he said in a news release.
Ellis said another objective was to improve the sales mix between higher margin transformer oil and lower margin naphthenic process oil produced at the Canton plant. Transformer oil sales represented 19 percent of U.S. volumes sold at the start of this year. By June, transformer oil represented 71 percent of sales, with further advances targeted. Growth in transformer oil sales have been supported by the Superfine product achieving 500 hour oil status, certifying the oil to be high quality transformer oil and a prerequisite to accessing the larger power transformer market, he stated.