PROFITS AT Green Plains, the US biofuels group 20 per cent-owned by Irish utility NTR, fell by 20 per cent to €29 million last year.

The US company said yesterday that net profits for 2011 were $38.4 million (€28.9 million), 20 per cent less than the $48 million it earned in 2010.

The profits earned last year translated into net income per share of $1.01, according to figures released by Green Plains.

Irish energy and utility services group NTR owns 7.7 million shares in Green Plans, about 20 per cent of the overall company.

The US business produces ethanol in nine different locations across the US.

Its revenues grew almost 75 per cent to $3.5 billion in 2011 from $2.1 billion the previous year.

The company also published quarterly figures for the three months ended December 31st showing a similar pattern of falling profits but rising revenues.

Net profits were $13.3 million, down 18 per cent on the $16.4 million the firm earned during the same three-month period in 2010. Revenues were $922.8 million for the last quarter of 2011, compared with $757 million a year earlier.

In September, NTR sold 3.7 million of the shares it held in Green Plains back to the US company for just over €20 million.

The price, $8 a share, was a discount on its original investment in Green Plains, which was valued at $10 a-share.

NTR merged its biofuels plants in Indiana and Tennessee into Green Plains in 2008. As part of that deal, the Irish group invested $60 million directly in Green Plains in return for its stake.

That stake was subsequently diluted as Green Plains has issued new shares since 2008 as part payment for other biofuels operations the group has bought.

Commenting on the results published yesterday, Green Plains chief executive Todd Becker said the company has taken three years to build a successful business capable of delivering solid operating results and cash flow.