Sixteen years after it launched, Phoslock has finally turned a profit.

The river and lake treatment company (ASX:PHK) reported a 2017 half year profit of $527,868, up from a $759,626 loss at the tail end of 2016.

Phoslock’s annual reporting data available online only goes back to 2007, but the company has never made a full or half year profit in that time.

The company was launched in 2002 with technology to clean up phosphorus polluted waterways.

Developed in Australia by the CSIRO the tech is designed to treat blue-green algae blooms in natural water bodies by safely removing phosphate.

The company secured $6.2 million in sales in the last six months of 2017 as Chinese projects began to deliver on promises, and revenue soared to $6 million, from $1.7 million in the same period the year before.

The first stage of Phoslock’s biggest Chinese project — an inner city canal — is worth $5 million to the company.

It’s completed about 40 per cent of the project with the balance due to be finished by June.

Phoslock has $15 million of contracts in China, and has built a factory for its bacterial products in Changxing, Zhejiang province, which started production four months ago.

Phoslock has projects in eight countries around the world, from the UK to Brazil to New Zealand, and reeled in receipts in the last six months of $3.4 million.Shares in Phoslock have been rising since early 2017.

They rose 7 per cent to 29.5c following the profit news.

Phoslock shares have been on the rise since the start of 2017.
Phoslock shares have been on the rise since the start of 2017.