ITM Power losses widen as Covid-19 delays projects

Energy storage and clean fuel company ITM Power reported a 16% improvement in its total income for its first half on Thursday, to £4.4m.

The AIM-traded firm said that it comprised revenue of £0.2m, which was down 92% year-on-year due to delays in the final installation of projects required for revenue recognition arising from Covid-19 issues.

It also included grant income and grants receivable for capital projects of £4.2m for the six month period ended 31 October, which was 200% higher than the prior year.

Losses from operations widened 22% to £12m, while its adjusted EBITDA lss increased 28% to £10.4m.

Cash balances excluding restricted balances totalled of £25.9m at period end, down from £56.9m a year earlier, with the board reporting current cash of £187m, after fundraising proceeds of £172m received in November.

Cash burn in the first half was £14m, up from £6.1m, which included £5.7m on Bessemer Park and £1.7m on inventory.

On the operational front, ITM Power reached practical completion on its ;Gigafactory; at Bessemer Park in January, adding that production had commenced in the new facility.

The ITM Motive division had agreed a fuel contract with National Express for 20 buses in Birmingham, and the ITM Support division had developed its first partnership with Optimal in Australia.

“The collaboration agreement with Snam and the strategic investment that accompanied it, as part of the £172m funding round, is another transformative deal for ITM Power,” said chief executive officer Graham Cooley.

“Alongside the Linde partnership and formation of ILE, ITM Power can concentrate on its core competence of developing and manufacturing electrolysis equipment.

“The company is now able to offer a full turnkey solution at industrial scale with the engineering, procurement and construction competence of a world leader in the hydrogen industry.”

Cooley said the “rapidly developing” backlog and tender pipeline demonstrated that ITM Power and its partners Linde, Snam and Shell had a “world-class” offering.

“The completed move into the new 1GW per annum electrolyser factory at Bessemer Park gives the company a powerful cost reduction trajectory and world beating manufacturing capacity for our record order book and pipeline.”

At 1216 GMT, shares in ITM Power were down 8.22% at 592p.