Twence had a great year in 2007. The company managed to post good financial results even while major construction projects (the biomass power plant and a third incineration line) also demanded considerable attention from the organisation. The net result of €4.9 million (rounded-off) is Twence’s best ever. The board of directors recognises this as an enormous achievement by the employees, who were working under the motto: “Open for business during construction.” For 2008, Twence expects to achieve at least the same result as in 2007.

The favourable result is due to a large extent to (incidentally) higher energy prices, but also to the high rate of availability of the incineration plants and to good cost management. Aside from breaks for periodical maintenance, the two incineration lines remained in continuous operation throughout the entire year. Some 830,000 tonnes of waste passed over the weighbridge at the Boeldershoek location in 2007. Over 90% of that was transformed into raw materials, building materials and energy. The fire at the TAS sorting plant, which put it out of commission for quite some time, did not negatively affect the financial results.

The generation of energy became structurally more important in 2007. That – along with Twence’s expanding role as a supplier of energy in the coming years – is why “Waste and Energy” will be replacing “Waste Processing” in the second part of the company’s name. Of the new building projects, the biomass power plant had progressed enough by the end of 2007 that the first tests could be performed. In the meantime, trial operations are now underway at the facility, marking the final phase before completion.

As for the construction of the third line, most of the important components were put into place last year. This year the turbine will follow, and all the wiring and control systems will be installed. The test phase for the third line is scheduled to begin in late 2008.

The Annual Shareholders’ Meeting will discuss the 2007 Annual Report on 25 April 2008, when the report will be presented for approval.