LINCOLN (AP) – The Lincoln Paper and Tissue Co. has ended its first fiscal year operating in the black.

The mill is running at capacity and has paid all the costs associated with starting the plant up except for interest charges, according to Keith Van Scotter, a co-owner of the plant.

Van Scotter said the company has been operating profitably since August, and that the mill has enough orders to keep it running at full tilt, producing 200 tons of paper and 100 tons of tissue daily.

“On balance I feel like we’re doing OK. We’re doing well,” Van Scotter said. “I think our prognosis is good.”

Van Scotter and his business partner bought the abandoned Eastern Pulp and Paper mill for nearly $24 million last May after the previous owner abruptly shut down in January, putting 750 people out of work and devastating this Penobscot County town. The mill reopened under its current name in June and now has about 350 employees.

Now, more than seven months later, the company’s customers, suppliers and employees are feeling increased confidence in the mill’s future.

“From what I hear from the friends that I have that work there and people around the town and from what knowledge I get from being on the council, I would say that things seem upbeat and that the mill is doing well,” said Town Councilor Linda Brown. “People are going to work and getting a paycheck and getting health insurance, and they are trying to be optimistic.”

There used to be a “healthy degree of skepticism” about whether the mill would stay in business, but that attitude is changing, Van Scotter said.

“We started to see it when we had been in business in six months,” he said. “Our customers have a greater degree of confidence in us and that we were going to be here over the long haul. The same is true of our suppliers and employees.”