ATOME PLC (AIM:ATOM) chair Peter Levine, in Thursday's full-year results statement, told investors he has every confidence that the company will go from strength to strength in the years ahead.
Levine believes ATOME will become one of the world leaders in the production of green fertiliser.
“This is the second set of full-year results for ATOME and reflects demonstrable positive progress towards our goal of achieving final investment decision (FID) on our flagship Villeta project and start of construction there by the end of this current year,” Levine said in the statement.
“It was only on 30 December 2021 that ATOME joined the London Stock Exchange's AIM market and today ATOME remains the only pure play green fertiliser project development company on the London market.
“Since admission, the company has made remarkable progress placing us at the forefront of the world green fertiliser industry.”
Levine added: “Maintaining our fast-track schedule to be the first industrial-scale producer of green fertiliser we successfully achieved numerous milestones in the year under report.”
In terms of financials, ATOME reported a loss of $6.6 million for the year ended December 31, compared with $5.9 million in 2022.
At the same time, ATOME highlighted its significant strides in its projects and financing efforts. In 2023, it raised $5.1 million from the issue of new shares to institutional and private investors, supporting working capital.
It also secured a funding mandate with IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank, to support its flagship project in Villeta, Paraguay.
Additionally, the international financial adviser Natixis commenced the financing process for the Villeta project, receiving strong expressions of interest from multilateral and commercial banks.
Operationally, ATOME upgraded its power purchase agreement to 145MW, purchased 30 hectares of land for the Villeta facility, and secured necessary environmental and operating licenses.
The company also established the National Ammonia Corporation as a joint venture for a 120MW project in Costa Rica and signed a pre-PPA for the 300MW Yguazu project in Paraguay.
Chief executive Olivier Mussat, meanwhile, said: “ATOME's strategy has been clear since day one: we aim to accelerate the development of our business by looking for reasonably sized projects, leveraging existing infrastructure in order to be first to market producing green fertiliser at the lowest cost possible near markets with existing demand.
“ATOME has now completed the front-end engineering and design (FEED) study for its first project in Villeta, Paraguay.
“It is not only significant for us, but it is also the first industrial-scale green fertilizer FEED globally.
“We are now rapidly proceeding towards agreeing terms and conditions for a definitive form PPA for the 300MW Iguazu project in Paraguay combined with continued progress in Costa Rica with National Ammonia Corporation, where we are actively working on securing power for this project.”
Mussat added: “All this progress has considerably exceeded our original expectations at the time of the IPO both in scale and the time frame of our business.”
