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.

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