CO2 Group reports FY profit of $1.6m

Perth-based carbon sequestrian company CO2 Group Ltd has turned around its loss in fiscal 2007 to a profit of $1.6 million for the 2008 financial year as it continued to invest in intellectual property and increase organisation capacity.

The company had reported a net loss for FY07 of $3.7 million.

The positive FY08 result was on the back of a 206 per cent jump in revenue to $12 million while basic earnings per share were up from the previous year's loss of $1.79 cents to 0.62c.

Operating cash flow per share decreased from 2.15c to 1c.

"The company continues to invest in building our intellectual property and expanding the company's organisational capacity with the ambition of delivering projects at substantial scale," chief executive Andrew Grant said.

"As such we have expanded our operational facilities into Western Australia to service our client base and deliver on-ground projects in that state."

Over the year, the company has secured up to $105 million of new carbon offset contracts with a number of Australian companies and multinationals including Woodside Burrup Pty Ltd, Inpex Browse Ltd and Qantas.

Chairman Ian Traher is upbeat about the future of the company following the election of the Rudd government which has set a 2010 target for its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

"What is clear is that demand for our services will escalate. The known options for abating greenhouse gases are expensive in comparison to biological sequestration and we are confident that the recognition of biological carbon sinks as a technology will gain traction," Mr Traher said.

"It remains somewhat incongruous that policy makers are committing substantial public funds to yet unproven and seemingly costly options when energy conservation and carbon sequestration have so much to offer."