Iofina shares up on performing well in Q1 despite challenges

Shares in Iofina rose almost 5% after it said it performed well in its first quarter despite facing some challenges.

The specialist in the exploration and production of iodine and iodine specialty chemical derivatives produced 118.7 metric tonnes (MT) of crystalline iodine from its five Oklahoma based IOsorb plants in the quarter.

"Water quality issues and the recently reported brine supply issue at our IO#3 plant slightly affected our total output versus Q1 2016 (Q1 2016: 124.6MT)," it said.

The operating IOsorb plants were currently performing well and producing crystalline iodine at forecast rates.

"The company expects to produce 215-230 MT of crystalline iodine in H1 2017 without any further contribution from IO#3 during that period," it said.

"We continue to work diligently at growth enhancing options for reutilizing our IO#3 resources, and will report the path forward for this plant in due course."

Iofina Chemical (IC) performed well in the first quarter. Sales of and demand for non-iodine halogen derivatives were especially strong at IC in the three-month period.

As regards the prices of iodine and iodine based derivatives, Iofina noted that prices were at a low late in 2016 and had now seemingly stabilised and recently have moved slightly higher.

"Iofina anticipates iodine prices will gradually rise in 2017 based on continued demand trends and the reported reduced iodine production output from some Chilean based iodine producers."

However, it cautioned that iodine prices currently remained well below historical trends, with typical prilled iodine pricing for large iodine consumers near $20/kg in first-quarter 2017.

At 13:32 GMT, shares in AIM-listed Iofina were up 4.77% to 10p each.