Biorefinery Pannonia Bio’s revenue climbed 27.5pc to more than EUR 367m last year, the company said in an announcement posted on the website of the Budapest Stock Exchange.

Pannonia Bio produced more than 500m litres of ethanol from over 1.2m tonnes of locally grown maize last year. It also turned out more than 300,000 tonnes of high-protein feed and some 10,000 tonnes of corn oil.

Pannonia Bio is in the midst of a EUR 150m investment programme being carried out in 2019-2021. It is making upgrades that will broaden its product palette and is investing in solar power.

Pannonia Bio noted that about 80pc of the bioethanol it produces is going toward pandemic defense at present. That volume is sufficient to supply every single European Union citizen with a 100ml bottle of hand sanitiser every month, it said.

Pannonia Bio CEO Pavel Kudriavtcev, who has headed the company since March, acknowledged the support of the Hungarian government and the body in charge of coordinating the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic for „removing all logistical and other obstacles that would have endangered the company’s operation”.

Pannonia Bio was named a business of strategic importance by the government early on in the coronavirus outbreak.

Ferenc Hodos, who is in charge of strategy at the company, said Pannonia Bio has offered the assets at its disposal for the support of local communities and industries, and for the work of healthcare institutions.

„Our company is constantly looking for ways to help in the pandemic defense effort in further areas,” he added.

Pannonia Bio’s corporate bonds, issued in the framework of the National Bank of Hungary’s Bond Funding for Growth scheme, are listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange’s XBond market.

Pannonia Bio is a unit of Ireland’s family-owned ClonBio Group.