Shares in AIM-quoted catalyser builder ITM Power closed more than 12 per cent down today at a year low, as investors reacted to a profits warning from new chief executive Dennis Schulz.
The Sheffield-based manufacturer is finding it hard to shift from an experimentation phase to generating profits, Schulz told investors today.
He began an operational review last month, on arrival from German industrial gas giant Linde, ITM’s equity partner in hydrogen catalyser innovation.
Lower sales from contracts and higher than anticipated losses would feature in results for the full year to this coming April, Schulz warned. Interim results will be declared on 31 January.
“This is the challenge I was expecting when I joined ITM” said Schulz. “For us to develop from an R&D and prototyping entity, to a mature delivery organisation, we require firmer foundations”.
Measures included in the review include rationalising the firm’s products around a core more closely linked to its proprietary proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology. Capital spending will be pulled back, as the company prepares for manufacturing at scale.
“Our twelve-month plan will make ITM a stronger, more focused and highly capable company”, Schulz sought to assure investors. “The large-scale opportunities in the market are yet to come, and by putting these foundations in place ITM will be ready for the significant market demand ahead of us.”
Linde holds 16.2% of ITM Power, having built its stake since 2019. Their joint ventures include ITM Linde Electrolysis Ltd.
ITM has been expanding rapidly, while still burning cash. Interim results for the six months to last January showed the firm’s pipeline of electrolysers grew more than fourfold year on year, to 86 MW.
In March, Motive Fuels, ITM’s unit which builds and operates green hydrogen refuelling stations, formed a joint venture with trading behemoth Vitol, designed to scale up of production of green hydrogen sold to transport operators.
Today’s closing price of 91.3 pence on AIM implies a market cap for ITM Power of around £640 million.
