Victrex, the high performance polymer manufacturer, has commenced construction of a new £90m PEEK production plant at its Hillhouse facility in Lancashire.
The plant, which is expected to come online in early 2015, is Victrex’s third on the Lancashire site and will raise the group’s annual PEEK capacity to more than 7,000 tonnes, up 141 per cent on current levels.
The £90m investment in the new facility is expected to be funded out of operating cash flow, the group said in a trading update.
Stock market-listed Victrex meanwhile announced its second half sales volumes had been 7 per cent ahead of the same period last year at 1,527 tonnes, reflecting “strong new business commercialisation” in its Victrex Polymer Solutions business.
Full year volumes had increased 1.5 per cent to a record 2,904 tonnes.
The group said its Invibio Biomaterial Solutions operation had recorded full year revenues of £50.5m, up 1.6 per cent.
Invibio’s managing director Hichem M’Saad had left the business for what the group called “personal reasons,” and Victrex chief executive David Hummel is to lead the business “to drive growth and further develop strategy for our established and targeted markets.”
Looking ahead, Victrex said the initial sales volume order book for October was “encouraging”.
“Whilst we are cognisant of the uncertain economic environment, our confidence in the growth potential for our business through the development of new applications and markets remains strong,” the update added.
Victrex’s share were trading at 1,394p today, up nearly 5 per cent. It will announce its full year results on 11 December 2012.
