Electric taxi maker loses £100m after drop in drivers
The Coventry-headquartered electric taxi manufacturer is looking to improve its net worth by £100m, after making a pre-tax loss of £104m.
London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) said in newly filed accounts at Companies House, that it had been hit by a falling number of drivers in central London and new drivers completing the ‘knowledge test’, as well as the pressure of inflation and high interest rates.
A recapitalisation process is expected to ‘repair’ the group’s decline in 2023 and further forecasted decline in 2024.
The first hive up and debt to equity swap totalling £50m took place in May 2024, with another £25m exercise completed in July and a final share allotment of £25m planned for October.
LEVC says the three exercises will increase its net worth by £100m and “improve both the liquidity position and reduce the gearing percentage of the group”.
Total sales had reduced by 14% to 2,356 vehicles after electric van sales took a hit, resulting in a 5.2% drop in revenue to £129.2m from £153.4m. LEVC did however see its taxi sales increase to their highest point since 2019.
Once known as The London Taxi Company, LEVC was rescued in 2013 by China’s Zhejing Geely Holding Group. It then opened the £300m facility in Ansty in 2017, creating 1,000 jobs. Companies House files say LEVC now employs 461 staff, after laying off 20% of its staff in October 2022, resulting in around 140 job losses at the Coventry factory.
Minority investor Natixis SA had injected £57.6m into LEVC in January 2023 and the firm also raised £70m through Geeley UK last October.
