German carbon broker Advantag AG posted a stunning 99% drop in annual revenues last year, it said on Friday, reflecting the tough time faced by dealers in the European carbon market.

Advantag recorded turnover of €2.18 million in 2015 through trading 410,008 carbon units, a steep decrease from the €234 million it earned in 2014 from handling volume of more than 40 million.

“[The drop] was due to both the low price level for fossil fuels, a wait-and-see attitude with regard to political developments, as well as the fact that customers in the previous year have built up substantial inventories,” Advantag said in its full year earnings report.

The company added that for 2016 it would focus on attracting new customers while taking care of existing ones in order to reignite growth.

Advantag, which was publically listed on the Dusseldorf stock exchange in 2013, has seen its share price plummet in the past year, falling from €7.65 at the end of Jan. 2015 to €3.15 on Friday.

A number of European brokerages have stopped dealing in carbon in the past few years, in part due to low prices, an over-supply of allowances in the market, and as more companies opt to trade direct on exchange rather than through intermediaries.

By Mike Szabo – mike@carbon-pulse.com