Clean fuel company ‘in the right place at the right time’
The chief executive of clean fuel company ITM Power has said the company is “undoubtedly in the right place at the right time” as the global outlook for green hydrogen demand and electrolysers remains encouraging.
The Sheffield-based company said the delivery of completed projects increased significantly in the second half of the financial year to the end of April as expected.
As a result, the total income under IFRS 15 is expected to be approximately £17m(unaudited) (£14.1m), an increase of over 20% year-on-year.
The EBITDA (unaudited) loss from operations of approximately £6.7m (£4.9m) is in line with board expectations, it said, while total financial assets at the year-end were approximately £19.8m, comprising £5.2m of cash, £1.7m of cash on guarantee and deployed working capital (debtors less creditors) of £12.9m.
A cash movement of £10.4m for H2 FY2019 reflects a period of deploying working capital. This has involved procuring components for the delivery of four hydrogen refuelling stations (HRS) in the UK, the bus HRS in France, and also materials for the Shell 10MW Refhyne project.
The contracts backlog stands at a record level of £45.1m, an increase since February 2019 of £9.4m (up 26%) comprising £29.0m of projects under contract and a further £16.1m of awards in the final stages of negotiation.
The tender opportunity pipeline also stands at a record level of £330m, an increase since February 2019 of £90m (up 38%) comprising 46 active commercial tender responses over the last 12 months with an average project size of £7.2m (£6.5m) reflecting strong industrial demand for larger systems.
Refuelling station network availability was consistently above 98% as a result of the close collaboration with the company’s partners Shell and Linde. Earlier this month, ITM Power announced the extension of the UK refuelling collaboration agreement with Shell, expanding on the original announced on 10 September 2015. The new agreement will run until 2024 and covers the refuelling of all types of hydrogen vehicles; from passenger cars to commercial vehicles, including buses, trucks, trains and ships.
“The market for electrolysis is growing very strongly. Many international projects at the 100MW level have been announced by energy majors including: Energinet, Tennet, GasUnie, Tata Steel, Nouryon, RWE, BP, ONTRAS and the Northern Netherlands initiative. In the UK, the Committee on Climate Change report “Net Zero” predicts (depending on load factor) between 6 GW (6,000 MW) and 17 GW (17,000 MW) of electrolyser capacity to be required in the UK by 2050,” the company said.
“In addition to commissioning the Committee on Climate Change report “Net Zero”, the UK Government has also established, via the UK Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC), a new task force dedicated to finding innovative solutions to make the best use of electricity generated by renewable sources with a strong focus on electrolysis. The task force, which began work on 20 May, includes senior representatives from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Scottish Government, the Committee on Climate Change, National Grid, ORE Catapult, Energy Systems Catapult, Atkins, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, ITM Power, Good Energy, Shell, Equinor, Vattenfall and Ørsted.”
Dr Graham Cooley, CEO, ITM Power, said: “ITM Power is undoubtedly in the right place at the right time. This trading and pipeline update demonstrates the attractiveness of our products around the world and the hard work of our team. Total recognised revenue, our contracts backlog and quotations against tenders are all showing strong growth and the world outlook for green hydrogen demand and electrolysers is very encouraging.”
