The Company has hired commodities trading specialist, Jesse Harte as Managing Director, Wholesale division of Viridis Merchants. Doug Middleton, who currently manages the U.S. brokerage business for Viridis, has been appointed Managing Director, Retail division of Viridis Merchants. Christopher Robertson, Viridis’ CEO, will also serve as president of Viridis Merchants.
“The wood pellet industry represents a classic merchandising opportunity in its early stages. Viridis intends to expand its brokerage business, which currently utilizes several third party producers, to include locational differentials, supply and demand imbalances and aggregation opportunities to increase its overall participation,” said Mr. Robertson,
“In addition to brokering transactions between buyers and sellers, Viridis intends to augment its production capacity, currently approaching 200,000 tons per year from its Okanagan Pellet and Scotia Atlantic Biomass Companies, with third party suppliers’ products of equal quality to develop additional brands in the residential market.”
Mr. Robertson added, “Since the business model is that of a broker, the gross margins generated from
Viridis Merchants are expected to be lower than our core business; however, the operating margins should be significantly higher since there are minimal incremental operational costs associated with the business.”
“The market for brokering wood pellets and other renewable energy commodities is in its developing stage. Commercial users of wood pellets, such as energy producers, are securing sources of wood pellets to fill co-firing needs mandated by recent legislature. This is a prime opportunity for Viridis to secure its position as a leading source of wood pellets and other renewable energy sources,” said Mr. Harte.
Commenting on the new appointments, Mr. Robertson said, “The retail division of Viridis Merchants has been largely developed by Doug Middleton over the past five years as he has built a solid presence in the northeast US residential space. The addition of Jesse allows us to expand on that to include both the European and Asian markets in both wholesale and retail, which I believe will contribute to the company’s financial results in the 2014.”
Viridis Energy Inc. is a publicly traded, "Cleantech" alternative energy company specializing in the agricultural and wood waste biomass.