More bad news for ethanol…VeraSun Energy has suspended production at 3 of its distilleries: Bloomingberg, Albion and Ohio. The plants stopped running in the latter part of December, with the company citing higher corn costs and less demand from ethanol as the reasons behind the closure.
Justice Sirikah over at HotStocked.com notes that this isn’t the first time this has happened:
… Read the restThis is the second time that VeraSun has taken such an extreme measure since
Rumors of imminent consolidation in the ethanol industry gave some of the industry’s major players a stock market boost on Wednesday. Poet LLC, the biggest fish in the ethanol pond, announced this week that it was considering snapping up some its competitors. Poet isn’t naming any names, but bankrupt VeraSun announced it had received a takeover bid from another unnamed ethanol company.
From MSN MoneyCentral, here’s a brief rundown on how ethanol share prices … Read the rest
I first wrote about the absurdity of ethanol in an article a couple years ago at Self Investors titled “Unintended Consequences of the Ethanol Boom“, highlighting food inflation, environmental destruction and the disgusting politicking surrounding it. With a surge of companies all attempting to cash in on ethanol with IPOs, it was just a matter of time before a few of them went belly up. One of the largest ethanol producers around, VeraSun … Read the rest
After the bell on Friday, Green Plains Renewable Energy reported very good Q3 results as revenues continue to soar. The company still reported a loss of .11/share in the typically weak 3rd quarter but much less than the loss of .40/share in the year ago quarter as revenues surged to over 100 million for the first time in its short history.
“In recent months, there have been extreme fluctuations in commodity markets,” said Wayne Hoovestol, … Read the rest
Forbes.com notes that the general economic malaise is affecting share prices of several of the top ethanol companies. Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings (AVR) plummeted to its lowest share price ever on Monday, bottoming out at $1.93 before climbing slightly to close at $2.10. Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) dropped 15.6% to close at $1.08, while VeraSun (VSE) dropped 12.4% to close at $1.84.
Even agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) was not immune from the slump, falling … Read the rest
2 upgrades to tell you about this morning – Citi upgraded VeraSun (VSE) from Sell to Hold but lowered the price target from 3 to 1.85, saying “The difficulties in 3Q08 are primarily related to the company’s corn hedging activities as VeraSun chose to lock in significant quantities of corn back in July when the corn market was reaching its peak. Consequently, as corn prices quickly reversed course VeraSun generated large losses on its corn … Read the rest
Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc will host a grand opening celebration at its newly completed ethanol plant in Superior, Iowa. The celebration will feature food, refreshments and tours of the new plant, which just opened two months ago. The plant, with its location strategically selected to be near seven grain elevators and other agricultural facilities owned by Green Plains Renewable Energy, is a key part of the company’s strategy to become a vertically-integrated, cost effective … Read the rest
Verasun, an ethanol producer, just filed a notice with the SEC indicating that their third quarter losses will be much higher than expected. Originally, the company was expected to post a net loss $2.4 million. However, the regulatory filing shows that that the company expects a net loss of between $63 million and $100 million. The company’s stock is expected to lose 40 to 65 cents per share as a result.
In the filing, Verasun … Read the rest
Verasun Energy (VSE) announced the startup of its 110 million gallon/year ethanol plant near Dyersville, Iowa, bringing the total number of production plants to 14 with a total capacity of more than 1.4 billion gallons.
“We are pleased to bring another large-scale, environmentally friendly ethanol production facility on-line in the state of Iowa,” VeraSun CEO Don Endres said. “The state continues to be a leader in renewable fuels production, helping our nation to reduce … Read the rest
BioFuel Energy (BIOF) has amended its credit agreement to allow its subsidiaries full access to the $20 million working capital facility which now appears to allow them sufficient liquidity to complete the commissioning of the ethanol plants in Wood River and Fairmont. . Previously, the subsidiaries had access to juts $5 million of the working capital.
Shares are currently up 22% but the stock is still mired in a long downtrend. … Read the rest