ITM Energy has issued a 3rd revenue warning in eight months as a overview of operations highlights deepening troubles on the UK hydrogen tools producer.
The Sheffield-based maker of electrolysers that separate hydrogen from water, which is central to the nation’s ambitions to develop clear power provide chains, mentioned on Monday that each one its points have been “surmountable”.
Nonetheless, it forecast decrease revenues and deeper losses in its present monetary 12 months due to beforehand unrecognised delays to deliveries on buyer contracts, additional prices and stock writedowns.
“It has turn out to be clear that the end result for the monetary 12 months ending 30 April 2023 might be materially totally different from the present steerage, with decrease income and the next earnings earlier than curiosity, tax, depreciation and amortisation loss,” it mentioned in an announcement.
The corporate’s shares fell as a lot as 14 per cent on Monday morning and at the moment are down greater than 70 per cent over the previous 12 months. Its market capitalisation has collapsed to £575mn, from a peak of £3.5bn in 2021.
Based in 2001 and backed by German industrial fuel group Linde and British development tools producer JCB, ITM is without doubt one of the UK’s greatest hopes for a homegrown manufacturing champion within the power industries of the longer term.
ITM’s woes observe these of one other UK clear power manufacturing hopeful Britishvolt, a battery start-up that got here near collapse and has fallen from grace after a dramatic drop in valuation.
ITM is creating electrolysers that use renewable energy to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen — a gas that may probably displace hydrocarbons in trade, heavy-duty transport and heating for houses.
The corporate has issued three revenue warnings since June, with its issues together with losses associated to delays at its flagship undertaking on the Leuna chemical compounds advanced in Germany.
ITM printed a dire set of full-year ends in September that exposed anticipated delays to its manufacturing plans and the resignation of long-serving chief govt Graham Cooley.
ITM plans to difficulty a strategic 12-month plan with its interim outcomes on the finish of the month as new chief govt Dennis Schulz, who got here from Linde Engineering, makes an attempt to show the group round.
“That is the problem I used to be anticipating after I joined ITM,” mentioned Schulz. “For the corporate to develop from an R&D and prototyping entity to a mature supply organisation, we require firmer foundations.”
James Carmichael, analyst at Berenberg, mentioned the newest disappointing replace highlighted “the challenges the corporate has had delivering dependable know-how and scaling up its manufacturing functionality”.
He added that the change of administration could be constructive in the long run however “there’s a lot to do to show the corporate round and regain market confidence”.
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