London-based Accsys, which has a manufacturing plant in Arnhem and is also selling Accoya production licences, saw Accoya wood revenue increase by 74% to €20.2m for the nine months ended December 2013. Sales of Tricoya modified wood fibre to Coillte Panel Products, manufacturer of Medite MDF, totalled €1.9m.
Although no earnings figures were released, the Arnhem Accoya plant had already broken into a profit (before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) last November and a combination of rising demand, economies of scale and price increases are expected to continue the upward momentum.
Total Accoya volume sold increased by 89%, compared to a year ago, with the Arnhem plant continuing to improve its profitability and product price rises being implemented in the first part of 2014.
“The increasing demand for Accoya continues to be seen across all regions and is attributable to both old and new distributors,” said Accsys.
“We continue to see the benefit from our significant investment in sales and marketing over the last few years, for example the targeting of architectural audiences.”
Accsys expects the trend of revenue growth to continue.
It said the market evaluation of Medite Tricoya modified MDF continued to be positive with “increasing acceptance of the product”.
Meanwhile, its efforts to sell production licences are also gathering pace. Belgian chemicals group Solvay’s licence agreement to produce and sell Accoya in the 47 countries of the Council of Europe – excluding the UK, Belgium, Holland, Ireland and Luxembourg, is now formally approved.
Solvay’s first 63,000m3 capacity plant is expected to be operational in 2016. A decision on the plant’s location at either Arnhem or Freiburg in Germany will be made in the next few months.
Accsys has six main Accoya distributors in the UK and Ireland, including Lathams, Lavers and International Timber, and a sizeable number of joinery manufacturers using the material in production.
Accoya is produced from softwood using a process of acetylation, designed to change the physical properties of the timber and greatly increase stability and durability.
