Zak Mir talks to Dr Tom Becker, President & CEO, Iofina, in the wake of the specialists in the exploration and production of iodine and manufacturers of speciality chemical products, announcing its audited full-year results for the 12 months to 31 December 2025. This included another record year: Production up 17%, Revenue up 22% and Adjusted EBITDA up 56%.
Iofina has been quietly doing the hard yards for years, and the market is now starting to pay attention.
Following its audited full-year 2025 results, the specialist iodine producer and chemical products business reported another record year, with production up 17%, revenue up 22% and adjusted EBITDA up 56%. That is the headline. The more interesting story sits underneath it: a company that has executed a very specific growth plan, built capacity at pace, and is now looking to accelerate again.
At the centre of that story is a simple idea. Iofina operates in a niche market, but one with critical end uses, steady demand, and room for disciplined expansion. For a business still valued at under £100 million, that combination is understandably beginning to attract attention.
Iodine is niche, but it matters more than most people realise
Iodine is not a commodity that gets discussed every day, yet it plays an essential role in a surprisingly wide range of industries. The global market is relatively small at around 40,000 metric tonnes, but demand is underpinned by applications that are difficult to replace.
The single biggest end market is human healthcare. In particular, iodine is heavily used in x-ray contrast media drugs. These are the agents used in CT scans and certain x-ray procedures when doctors need clearer imaging. That application alone accounts for roughly 38% of the market.
Beyond that, iodine shows up in many places people barely think about:
- Disinfectants, including the familiar brown antiseptic used on cuts and before surgery
- LCD screens, where iodine-based polarising film is used
- Nutrition, because iodine is needed in the diet to support thyroid function
- Pharmaceuticals and biocides, where it serves a range of specialised purposes
So while iodine may be a niche market, it is tied to healthcare, technology and industrial applications that give it resilience. That is a useful backdrop for any producer looking to grow production over time.
How Iofina produces iodine
Iofina’s model is one of the more interesting parts of the business. Rather than mining iodine in the traditional sense, the company extracts it from briny water produced by the oil and gas industry.
This water is effectively a co-product, or waste stream, from oil and gas operations. In the right areas, it contains iodine in concentrations that can be extracted economically. Iofina builds plants to process that brine and recover the iodine.
At present, the company has eight iodine plants in operation, all located in Oklahoma. A ninth plant is under construction in the Permian Basin, spanning southwest Texas and southeast New Mexico, which is one of the most significant oil and gas regions in the world.
That approach gives the company a clear link between operational execution and growth. If it can continue identifying suitable brine streams and building plants at an attractive return, production can keep climbing.
From 500 metric tonnes to 1,000 metric tonnes
Over the last four to five years, Iofina has roughly doubled its production profile.
The business was producing about 500 metric tonnes several years ago. Once the Permian plant comes online, management expects that to rise to around 1,000 metric tonnes.
That is not a theoretical target. It has come from a concrete build-out programme:
- Three plants built in three years
- A fourth, larger plant making it effectively four plants in four years
- A balance sheet that has remained in sound shape while growth has been funded by reinvesting profitability back into the business
This matters because scaling production is often where smaller resource and speciality chemical companies stumble. Capital can become stretched, timelines can slip, and growth stories can get ahead of operating reality. What stands out here is that management’s strategy has been rooted in repeatable execution.
As Dr Tom Becker put it, the company has had a specific goal of increasing iodine production in a market that continues to grow, and the team has delivered against that plan.
The next goal: 2,000 metric tonnes in the next few years
Reaching 1,000 metric tonnes is not being treated as the finish line. It is being treated as the foundation for the next stage.
The vision now is to move towards 2,000 metric tonnes over the next few years. To get there, Iofina is looking to increase the pace of plant development. In other words, not just building one plant a year, but building more frequently where the economics support it.
The Permian Basin project is a good illustration of that next phase. It is expected to produce around 200 metric tonnes once fully online, making it a larger opportunity than some of the company’s previous builds.
If the company can continue replicating that model, its standing within the global iodine market changes meaningfully.
Why scale matters in the global iodine market
At current levels, Iofina accounts for about 2.5% of global iodine production. Management sees a realistic path towards roughly 5% over the next number of years.
That may not sound dramatic at first glance, but in a market of this size and specialisation, it is significant. Moving from a 2.5% player to something closer to 5% changes how the company is perceived by customers, suppliers and the wider market.
Greater scale brings a number of advantages:
- More relevance in a tight global supply chain
- Greater breadth of production
- Potentially stronger commercial relationships
- Improved strategic visibility in a niche but important market
For a company operating in a specialist segment, size is not just about bragging rights. It can alter the quality of the business model itself.
The numbers behind the 2025 results
The headline metrics were strong, but the fuller picture is worth unpacking.
Iofina’s revenue has increased year on year for the last eight years. That kind of consistency is not accidental. It reflects the company’s emphasis on increasing iodine production and ensuring there are commercial outlets for everything it produces, whether that is iodine itself or iodine derivatives made through its chemical operations.
The 2025 result was supported by both operational growth and pricing.
- Production growth increased volumes available for sale
- Revenue growth reflected that higher output
- Adjusted EBITDA growth showed the operating leverage in the model
- Average iodine selling prices were modestly higher than in 2024, which added to profitability
That final point is important, but it is not the whole story. Management’s emphasis remains firmly on building production capacity rather than relying on a short-term pricing spike.
Iodine prices have been firm, and that supports expansion
Over the last three years, iodine prices have held within a fairly steady and healthy range of roughly $65 per kilo to nearly $80 per kilo on a 100% basis.
No commodity or speciality chemical market comes with guarantees, and management was careful not to overstate certainty. But the company’s view is that current pricing levels are more likely than not to remain supportive. That belief, together with the underlying growth in the iodine market, is one reason Iofina feels the timing is right to press the accelerator more firmly.
That is a subtle but important distinction.
This is not a story based purely on a rising price environment. It is a story about combining:
- a growing end market,
- repeatable plant construction,
- proven operational delivery, and
- pricing that currently justifies faster expansion.
Execution has been the real differentiator
There is a tendency in smaller listed companies for management teams to talk a lot about ambition. What tends to matter more is whether they can execute repeatedly.
That is really the thread running through Iofina’s recent performance. The business has not simply talked about growth in abstract terms. It has built plants, increased production, expanded revenue year after year, and funded much of that development by recycling profits back into the business while maintaining balance sheet discipline.
That combination is likely one reason the market has started to re-rate the shares more aggressively. A rising share price can often reflect a belated recognition that a company has moved beyond promise and into delivery.
Is Iofina a takeover candidate?
It is a fair question for any specialist producer with a relatively modest market value and improving fundamentals.
Dr Becker’s answer was refreshingly straightforward. In principle, any company is for sale at the right price. But that is not how Iofina is being run. The strategy is not to dress the company up for a sale. The strategy is to grow the company organically, using its existing technology and operating model.
That means the focus stays where it should be:
- building new plants,
- increasing production,
- growing revenue and profits, and
- creating a larger, stronger business over time.
If outside interest follows, that is a separate matter. But it is not the basis on which the company says it is making decisions.
“We’re not running the company to prop it up for sale. We’re running the company to grow the company and organically grow the company with the technology that we have.”
What about geopolitical risk?
With many listed companies recently highlighting geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions and regional instability, it was also worth asking whether any of that is materially affecting Iofina.
The answer, at least for now, appears to be no.
There have been some small increases in the cost of certain raw materials, but nothing management regards as material. Sales channels are also not meaningfully exposed to the regions causing concern, so there has been no significant hit on the demand side either.
That relative insulation is another useful feature of the story. In a market where investors are increasingly alert to geopolitical shocks, a business with limited direct exposure can stand out.
Why the market is paying attention now
Iofina’s recent momentum is not hard to understand.
The company operates in a specialist market with critical healthcare-led demand. It has a proven extraction model tied to oil and gas brine streams. It has doubled production over a relatively short period. It has delivered years of revenue growth. And it now sees a path to doubling production again.
Put those pieces together and the investment case becomes clearer:
- A niche but essential product
- A scalable production model
- Strong recent financial performance
- Visible growth opportunities
- Limited direct geopolitical disruption
For a company still small in market-cap terms, that is a compelling mix.
The path to 1,000 metric tonnes was not easy, and management has been open about that. But that milestone appears to have given Iofina something valuable: proof. Proof that the model works, proof that plants can be delivered, and proof that growth can be translated into stronger financial results.
The next test is whether the company can take that same formula and scale it again. If it does, Iofina may move from being an overlooked niche producer to a much more prominent name in the global iodine market.
As ever, execution will matter more than excitement. But so far, the business has given the market a good reason to believe it can keep delivering.
