Accsys Technologies PLC on Tuesday said it swung to a loss in the first half of its current financial year, due to impairment costs from the closure of a plant in Hull.

The London-based wood building products manufacturer said its pretax loss widened to €26.2 million during the six months that ended September 30, from €13.1 million the year before.

This was primarily due to an exceptional impairment charge of €18 million, related to its closure of the Tricoya plant in Hull. This also involved a one-off restructuring cost of €3.9 million.

Total revenue grew 1.4% to €72.2 million from €71.2 million last year, while cost of sales decreased 1.6% to €50.1 million from €50.9 million. Other operating costs rose 27% to €40.3 million from €30.7 million.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation more than doubled to €4.0 million from €1.6 million last year.

Chief Executive Officer Jelena Arsic said: ‘Our results show strong progress. The transformation programme and the actions we have put in place are working. Accsys is continuing its growth momentum, delivering double-digit growth in a relatively soft building materials market. At the same time the group is materially improving profitability, and cash conversion. The group is now better positioned to fulfil its attractive market potential.

‘Accsys has moved beyond its peak investment period. In the first half, we have simplified and de-risked the group through the successful start-up of the Kingsport plant and the decision to discontinue the project in Hull. We are accelerating sales and marketing activities, and an operational turnaround is in progress.

‘As we look ahead, we are excited and pleased to upgrade guidance for the year. With our US facility fully operational, we have greater capacity to serve our customers in one of the world’s most attractive markets with our industry leading wood building products. Our increased capacity and product availability mean we are in a strong position to capitalise on the anticipated improvement in market conditions as it occurs and deliver on our medium-term ambition of 100,000 cubic metres sales volume.’

Accsys said it expects full-year results to be ‘significantly ahead’ of market expectations, citing a company-compiled consensus of adjusted Ebitda of €7.6 million. This would have represented a 45% growth from €4.8 million last year.

Shares in Accsys were up 11% at 47.78 pence each in London on Tuesday afternoon.

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