Atlantis sees £7m loss in year of ‘world firsts’ for firm

ATLANTIS Resources, the tidal power group, has posted a pre-tax loss of £7.3m for 2016, a year that its chairman said “was another of world firsts for the group and tidal power”.

The company exported its first power to the grid from its Meygen project in the Pentland Firth in November.

“2016 was a very significant year for the group as we saw the realisation of over ten years of hard work in the energisation of MeyGen Phase 1A,” said chief executive Timothy Cornelius.

At the start of 2017 the company received full accreditation from Ofgem, confirming MeyGen Phase 1A as a tidal generation plant.

Mr Cornelius added that initial indications are that the performance of its own turbine generator, the AR1500, will exceed expectations. The other turbines at Meygen 1A were developed by Andritz Hydro Hammerfest.

All turbines are currently undergoing upgrades following an initial period of operation, and are scheduled for reinstallation in mid-2017 when they will undergo their final performance and reliability guarantee tests.

The second phase of the Meygen project, known as Project Stroma, was confirmed in the year. It will benefit from €20.3m of capital grant funding from Europe’s Horizon 2020 programme, as well as €16.8m in revenue support under the NER300 scheme. The company confirmed that this funding will not be impacted by Brexit.

Atlantis also created Atlantis Energy, an offshoot that will focus on offshore floating wind and tidal barrage projects.

Mr Cornelius said: “2017 promises

Thursday, 1st June, 2017

by Locum

to be a year of technological and geographical diversity and advancement as we continue to build this part of the business alongside our latest tidal stream opportuniquick ties in France and Asia.”

The full year loss reverses a £2.7m profit the previous year, which can be attributed to one off gains arising from the acquisition of Marine Current Turbines of £9.2m and the disposal of 50 per cent of its stake in Atlantis Operations Canada.

Revenue from consulting services was £200,000, down from £1.4m as a result of the completion of the final design phase of a contract with Energy Technologies Institute

Total expenses for the year were £9.1m, a reduction on the prior year of £2.9m.

This is the first year Atlantis has reported in sterling rather than Singapore dollars.

The group’s

net

assets increased during the year by £8.9m to £66.6m. It has £10.2m cash to draw upon, and in the current financial year has raised £4m from shareholders.

Atlantis acquired additional seabed options from Scottish Power Renewables in return for a six per cent stake in Atlantis’ project development company, Tidal Power Scotland, valued at £6.6m. The year also saw DEME Group invest £2m in an additional two per cent stake in Tidal Power Scotland. Atlantis retains 92 per cent.

Scottish Enterprise upped its holding in Meygen Holdings to 16.55 per cent for £1.3m. Atlantis retains the remaining 83.45 per cent.