OREANDA-NEWS. October 15, 2015. Active Energy Group Plc (AIM: AEG.L), the London Stock Exchange AIM-quoted international supplier of industrial wood fibre, timberland and natural resources development services, and sustainable Biomass for Energy (BFE) coal replacement fuel solutions and systems, announces that it has finalised installation and testing of a new high-volume hardwood production line at its AEG WoodFibre Yuzhny Port processing facility, and that it is now fully operational.

The Group's AEG WoodFibre division reported revenues of US\\$17.395 million in 2014, an increase of 995% over the US\\$1.588 million it achieved the previous year.  The new handling and processing equipment is part of a large-scale investment programme to facilitate a four-fold increase in its production capacity to enable it to meet the rising demand for wood fibre from its Turkish MDF manufacturing customer base.

Turkey is Europe's leading supplier of MDF, currently producing over 5 million metric tonnes of MDF per annum, with a value of over \\$2.5 billion; a figure that is forecast to grow 8% year-on-year to over \\$3 billion by 2017.  AEG WoodFibre, which is now the largest exporter of processed wood from Ukraine, has established an excellent reputation for quality and reliability within this important market, and the Board believes that it has considerable growth potential.

As previously announced, the expanded hardwood wood chip facility is scheduled to be joined by a new softwood wood chip production line in Q1:2016, which will enable AEG WoodFibre to further expand its product range and enter a new market sector.

Richard Spinks, CEO of Active Energy Group, commented:  "I am delighted to report that following a lengthy installation and testing process, the new hardwood handing and processing facility at Yuzhny Port is now fully operational, and I congratulate the AEG WoodFibre team on their achievement."

"The new equipment will enable us to build on the long-standing commercial relationships that we have developed with our existing customers, and should introduce further opportunities within the Turkish MDF manufacturing sector.  The Board and I remain very confident in this area of AEG's business, and we look forward to updating our shareholders on the increased 2016 hardwood and softwood off-take contracts that we are currently negotiating."