The group turned in a pretax loss of 3.14 mln eur for the year, compared with a loss of 386,000 eur in 2004, on revenue of 11,000 eur compared with nil.

Chairman Robert Drummond said: "We believe Acta's breakthrough in catalyst technology will enable the competitive launch of fuel cells to the mass consumer market and, having laid the foundations for our success in 2005, the outlook remains encouraging."

He added that the company is in a strong position to meet its objectives.

As the company continues to invest in its growth plans, it said it expects costs to rise to around 5 mln eur in 2006. It said this near doubling in the cost base over the course of 2006 will be offset to some extent by increased grant income.

Most of the increased cost is in the form of employee costs, which can be controlled or deferred if necessary, the group added.

The group plans to continue to develop its product offering during 2006, building on its strategic plan. The outlook for the HYPERMEC catalyst remains encouraging and the group said it looks forward to updating the market on further commercial, product and patent announcements in due course.