Despite widening losses, Ceres Power announces new fuel cell production plant

British fuel cell maker Ceres Power (LSE: CWR) has posted losses in line with expectations but says it remains confident of commercial progress after increasing spending on research and development.

The company said its pre-tax loss for the first half increased to £3.3 million from £2.7 million a year earlier, while revenue from commercial contracts increased to £110,000 from £71,000. Losses were partly attributed to a 34 per cent hike in research and development costs to £3.1 million and a 21 per cent rise in administrative costs associated with the company's growing intellectual property portfolio and commercial staff.

Ceres Power also announced that a new facility to design, build and test fuel cell products will be operational by mid 2007. It will be used to develop products for the CHP, off-grid and APU markets.

In addition, design is underway for a 'mother plant' for the mass production of core fuel cell products which is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2008.

Chairman Philip Holbeche commented: "I am very pleased with the significant progress Ceres Power has made towards delivering cost-effective, efficient and reliable commercial solutions using our advanced fuel cell technology. "Today's announcement regarding the scale-up of our manufacturing capacity reinforces our confidence in our fuel cell technology and the potential markets for our products."

For more information:

www.cerespower.com