Sacramento’s Pacific Ethanol closes out 2016 on a strong note

Pacific Ethanol Inc. closed out 2016 with significantly higher profits.

The Sacramento ethanol producer said Wednesday that net income available to common stockholders in last year’s fourth quarter totaled $12.6 million, or 30 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $1.1 million, or 3 cents a share, in the last quarter of 2015.

Net sales in the most-recent quarter were $441.7 million, compared with $376.8 million in the year-ago period. For all of 2016, PEI said net sales totaled $1.6 billion, compared with $1.19 billion the previous year.

PEI attributed the year-over-year increases to more gallons sold from both production and third-party sales, as well as a higher average ethanol sales price per gallon compared with 2015.

Neil Koehler, the company’s president and CEO, said the results reflected, in part, “the benefits of the acquisition and successful integration of our Midwest assets.”

PEI has made multiple investments in the Midwest, including the December acquisition of a Nebraska grain elevator, a move designed to increase its access to raw material for its ethanol.

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Sacramento’s Pacific Ethanol closes out 2016 on a strong note."