By Patrick L. Thimangu
Zoltek Cos. Inc. is planning to double its carbon-fiber production capacity by the end of this year, using part of $50 million in financing that the company recently negotiated.
Maryland-Heights based Zoltek’s plans were reported in a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Feb. 9. The move is part of a three-phase growth program that Chief Executive Zsolt Rumy launched in 2004 in Abilene, Texas, where the company has its main carbon-fiber production facilities, and Hungary, where it has plants that make carbon-fiber and acrylic-fiber precursors.
Zoltek’s planned expansion this year, which mainly will occur in Hungary, is driven by continued global demand for carbon fibers from commercial and military aircraft manufacturers that use the composite material to make airplane components, and alternative energy manufacturers that use carbon fibers to make rotor blades for windmill turbines.
Zoltek will add eight new production lines at its plant in Hungary. The expansion, Rumy said in a conference call with analysts earlier this year, will require the company to hire and train about 200 additional workers.
In Abilene, Zoltek will instead hire more employees and train existing ones, Rumy said. In all, Zoltek projects it will have capacity to produce about 17 million pounds of carbon fiber annually by year’s end, up from about 9 million currently.
Zoltek employs about 250 people in the United States, with most at the Abilene plant. The rest work at the company’s plant in Missouri Research Park in St. Charles County. The company has about 550 employees at its Hungarian operations.
Zoltek had a loss of $40.4 million for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, despite seeing its revenue increase by 51 percent. For the 2005 fiscal year, the company generated revenue of $60.2 million.
Wall Street seems to be upbeat about Zoltek’s prospects. Zoltek stock, which trades on the Nasdaq, hit a 52-week high of $17 a share Feb. 21, more than double its 52-week low of $8.03 a share it sunk to Dec. 16.
Kenneth Crawford, managing director at Clayton-based Argent Capital Management, said Zoltek is enjoying the global demand for carbon fiber from many industries that are seeking to manufacture products with light, but strong, composite materials.
