REG - Ceres Power Holdings - Final results for the year ended 31 December 2024
21/03/2025 07:15
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RNS Number : 5795B Ceres Power Holdings plc 21 March 2025
CWR.L
21 March 2025
Ceres Power Holdings plc
Final results for the year ended 31 December 2024
Horsham, UK: Ceres Power Holdings plc ("Ceres", the "Company") (CWR.L), a
leading developer of clean energy technology, announces its audited results
for the year ended 31 December 2024.
Financial highlights
• Record order intake of £112.8 million, following signing of two
manufacturing licensee partners, Delta Electronics and Denso, and an
electrolyser system partner, Thermax Ltd.
• Revenue of £51.9 million (2023: £22.3 million), an increase of
132%.
• Gross profit of £40.2 million (2023: £13.6 million), extending
sector-leading gross margin to 77% (2023: 61%).
• Strong cash and short-term investments position of £102.5 million
(2023: £140.0 million) with reduced cash outflow of £37.5 million (2023:
£42.4 million) through continued disciplined cash management
Strategic highlights
• South Korea - Doosan production on track. Doosan factory
commissioning for SOFC stack and cell production is progressing towards
product launch in 2025 for stationary power systems for commercial and data
centre applications.
• Taiwan - Delta is progressing well towards manufacturing. Our
first licensee for both solid oxide fuel cell ("SOFC") and solid oxide
electrolyser cell ("SOEC") technology, Delta is evaluating factory designs,
targeting the growing data centre and industrial hydrogen markets.
• Japan - Denso completed upfront technology transfer. Ceres has
successfully completed the upfront technology transfer to Denso Corporation,
an expert in system control and thermal management to address the growing
green hydrogen sector.
• India - SOEC system development with Thermax underway. Thermax
has begun developing assembly facility layouts to accelerate entry into the
dynamic Indian market for industrial decarbonisation.
Current trading
• The termination of the Bosch contract on 20 February, while
disappointing, will have limited financial impact in the low single digit
millions of euros for 2025.
• Ceres remains on track to deliver the anticipated savings on
restructured and optimised cost base.
• We expect revenue for 2025 will be broadly similar to 2024. We
will provide additional guidance on revenue expectations for the full year at
our July trading update.
Phil Caldwell, Chief Executive Officer of Ceres, said:
"2024 was a record year for Ceres, as our teams continued to deliver best in
class technology and global partnerships during a period of significant change
in the energy markets and a challenging economic environment. We now have
three major global manufacturing partners establishing factories to produce
Ceres-based products.
For 2025, we are focusing on building our partner portfolio and delivering
technology milestones, whilst looking forward to Doosan commencing production
in the second half of the year."
Ends
Financial Summary
2024 2023
Restated(1)
£'000 £'000
Total revenue, comprising: 51,891 22,324
Engineering services and licences(1) 44,953 16,598
Provision of technology hardware 6,938 5,726
Gross profit 40,164 13,554
Gross margin % 77% 61%
Adjusted EBITDA loss(2) (22,287) (50,297)
Operating loss (31,317) (59,401)
Net cash used in operating activities (35,941) (33,899)
Net cash and investments 102,465 139,956
1. Following changes to how information is presented to the Chief Operating
Decisions Makers (CODM), in 2024 revenue from engineering services and
licences is no longer disaggregated. The Group has restated the presentation
of major product/service lines for the year ended 31 December 2023.
2. Adjusted EBITDA loss is an Alternative Performance Measure, as defined and
reconciled to operating loss in the non-GAAP section at the end of this
report.
Analyst presentation
Ceres Power Holdings plc will be hosting a live webcast for analysts and
investors on 21 March 2025 at 09.30 GMT. To register your interest in
participating, please go to:
https://sparklive.lseg.com/CeresPowerHoldingsCrawley/events/2090b911-c4ab-43ca-846a-02a55cd1f1b8/2024-full-year-results
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For further information visit www.ceres.tech
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or contact:
Ceres Power Holdings plc
Patrick Yau/ Merryl Black Tel: +44 (0)7884 654 179
Email: investors@cerespower.com
MHP Group (PR Adviser) Tel: +44 (0)7831 406117
Reg Hoare/James Macfarlane/Matthew Taylor Email: ceres@mhpgroup.com (mailto:Ceres_power@fticonsulting.com)
About Ceres
Ceres is a leading developer of clean energy technology: fuel cells for power
generation and electrolysers for the production of green hydrogen. Its
asset-light, licensing model has seen it establish partnerships with some of
the world's largest companies, such as Doosan, Delta, Denso, Shell, Weichai
and Thermax. Ceres' solid oxide technology supports greater electrification of
our energy systems and produces green hydrogen at high efficiencies as a route
to decarbonise emissions-intensive industries such as steelmaking, ammonia and
future fuels. Ceres is listed on the London Stock Exchange ("LSE") (LSE: CWR)
and is classified by the LSE Green Economy Mark, which recognises listed
companies that derive more than 50% of their activity from the green economy.
Read more on our website www.ceres.tech or follow us on LinkedIn. Read more on
our website www.ceres.tech
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or follow us on LinkedIn
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.
Chief Executive's statement
Iam proud to report that Ceres has achieved a record-breaking commercial year
in 2024. We reached our highest annual revenue and order intake ever, thanks
to three significant partner licence agreements. These successes highlight our
intensified focus on commercial activities as we expand our partnership
portfolio into new territories worldwide. Consequently, Ceres is in a robust
financial position as we establish our technology as an industry standard.
This will enable us to secure a growing share of both the power generation and
green hydrogen production markets as we move towards first production and
royalties this year.
We have seen growing demand over the past 12 months for power solutions, which
can utilise existing fuels such as natural gas and future fuels such as
hydrogen to be deployed rapidly to meet the growing need of AI data centres
and industrial power needs. In addition to our SOFC business, Ceres has
accelerated the development of its electrolysis technologies to enter the
rapidly expanding green hydrogen industry. Over the past three years, our
ongoing innovation in core solid oxide technology has led to a highly
efficient and cost-effective mode of hydrogen electrolysis for hard-to-abate
industrial sectors, such as green steel, ammonia and synthetic fuels
production. It is incredibly satisfying to see global manufacturing companies
recognising this technology as a solution for both meeting rapidly growing
power demand and also to address industrial decarbonisation.
Ayear of significant commercial progress
Our first new manufacturing partnership and licence agreement of 2024 was
announced in January with Taiwan's Delta Electronics. With 80,000 people
across approximately 200 facilities, Delta is a manufacturing giant active in
the chemicals, energy, transportation and steel sectors. This was Ceres' first
dual licence for the production of both SOFC and SOEC stacks.
Our expertise in high-efficiency power generation and green hydrogen
production complements Delta's mass manufacturing capabilities, financial and
physical resources and end-market presence. The partnership enables Delta to
move quickly into decarbonisation solutions and complement its current
portfolio of product servicing markets such as data centres, smart buildings,
energy infrastructure, grid balancing and energy storage solutions. Delta is
expected to start manufacturing by the end of 2026, with keen ambitions for
rapid future scale-up.
In July, we signed a SOEC manufacturing licence with Japan's Denso
Corporation, a global Fortune 500 company employing over 160,000 people in 35
countries and regions worldwide. The partnership will enable Denso to produce
Ceres' stack technology under licence, leveraging Denso's expertise in system
control and thermal management to develop technology in green hydrogen
production. In common with other manufacturing licence partnerships, this
agreement provides revenues for licence fees, engineering services and
hardware over multiple years, as well as future royalty payments.
In addition to securing two new manufacturing licences, Ceres signed its first
SOEC system licence partnership with Thermax in September. Strategically, this
is an important relationship for us, taking the business into a significant
new region for decarbonisation technologies. Thermax is one of India's largest
process equipment manufacturers with an extensive industrial portfolio that
includes clean air, clean energy, clean water and chemical solutions. With
industry expertise, it is ideally placed to accelerate deployment of our
technology by engaging end users to pull the technology into hard-to-abate
green ammonia, petrochemical and steel industries.
Our collaboration with Shell to deploy a 1MW SOEC demonstrator was installed
in 2024 and is now ready to produce hydrogen and to deliver important test and
performance data. This partnership has been extended to develop of a 10MW
pressurised module, targeting hydrogen production at 37kWh/kg. The design
would be modular, with the potential to be scaled to hundreds of megawatts and
integrated into industrial plants to produce sustainable future fuels.
The scale-up design builds upon the work undertaken with AtkinsRéalis, a
world-leading engineering, procurement and construction ("EPC") services
group, to deliver the frontend engineering design ("FEED") for a commercial
hydrogen production system based on Ceres' SOEC technology. This design
provided a blueprint of the optimum system architecture for a 100MW+
electrolyser system to produce green hydrogen. We will be validating this
pressurised module with a demonstration project to highlight a highly
efficient pathway to low-cost green hydrogen production for industrial
applications.
In parallel to our initiatives in SOEC, Ceres now has three licensees for our
SOFC technology and our focus remains on supporting the execution of their
respective solid oxide cell and stack manufacturing facilities through to
start of production and first product sales using the Ceres technology.
We expect Doosan to progress to start of production this year for its SOFC
power modules for applications such as data centre and maritime power systems.
Initial royalty payments to Ceres are expected by the end of 2025. This will
be a pivotal moment in our history as these revenues will demonstrate the full
scope of business model as our partners sell products into their end markets.
We continue to support the system development of SOFC power modules by
Weichai, which has a leading position in China's gas engine market, as well as
strong presence in the stationary diesel power generation industry. Weichai
deployed first demonstration SOFC systems of up to 100kW to first customers in
China in December 2024.
In February 2025, Bosch took the strategic decision to cease its development
of SOFC cells and stacks for manufacture. Bosch stated that this decision is
part of broader revised strategic direction and does not reflect Bosch's
confidence in Ceres or our technology. Clearly we are disappointed that Bosch
will discontinue its SOFC operations, but the impact on revenues for 2025 will
be in the low single digit millions of euros.
Market backdrop and opportunities
Governments around the world have recognised the need to provide power
solutions for continued economic growth. We continue to believe that our
technologies have important roles to play. In power mode Ceres SOFC technology
offers fuel flexibility and the highest levels of conversion from fuel to
energy at 65% electrical efficiency in power-only mode, or greater than 90%
when excess heat is also utilised.
This enables key regions to support the decarbonisation of energy systems as
natural gas is set to remain the transition fuel of choice over the medium
term. Nations such as South Korea, China, India and Taiwan will start to
reduce their reliance on coal in the next few years and increase adoption of
nuclear, natural gas and renewable energy power, supported by various
government initiatives.
There is also high demand for energy in specific application areas, such as
AI-driven data centres. The rise of cloud solutions, cryptocurrency and AI
could see data centres accounting for 2,500 to 4,500 terawatt hours ("TWh") of
global electricity demand by 2050, equivalent to 5-9% of the total. This
demand creates greater need for gas or other sources of energy to balance out
the intermittency of renewable energy sources.
While progressing towards global decarbonisation, government incentives
reflect the essential role of hydrogen in meeting this goal - either as a fuel
of the future, as a key feedstock in a number of industrial processes or as a
carrier of energy. Many have put in place specific hydrogen strategies to
incentivise the production, infrastructure development and adoption of green
hydrogen.
For example, Japan aims to generate public and private investment in hydrogen
worth 15 trillion yen, equivalent to around US$98 billion, over the next 15
years, with specific reference to the hard-to-abate sectors. South Korea's
Hydrogen Economy Roadmap for hydrogen infrastructure and commercialisation
strategies is being backed by around US$33 billion of government funding. The
EU is targeting the deployment of 40GW of green hydrogen electrolysis by 2030,
committing up to €470 billion in investments up to 2050 for the hydrogen
economy. Furthermore, its Clean Industrial Deal sets out plans to promote
green industry as well as decarbonising heavy sectors such as steel, cement
and chemical manufacture.
In electrolysis mode our solid oxide technology can be operated in reverse to
produce pure hydrogen from electricity and water. Our SOEC technology operates
at high levels of efficiency as they can integrate waste heat from industrial
processes to convert water to steam. This makes our technology a natural
choice for hydrogen production for hard-to-abate industrial sectors globally.
With our partners we are targeting industries such as steel production,
chemical manufacturing and sustainable future fuels. These industries are
characterised by their reliance on high-temperature processes, the need for
energy-dense fuels, or the use of fossil fuels as feedstock. As a result, they
are difficult to decarbonise using current renewable energy sources or
electric alternatives alone. By 2050, around 49% of total green hydrogen
consumption will be accounted for by these hard-to-abate industries, equating
to approximately 191Mt per annum.
In tandem with our technology and engineering expertise, the Ceres licensing
model has been established to help accelerate the adoption of our
decarbonisation technologies across these industrial sectors.
As the technology of choice for leading global original equipment
manufacturers ("OEM") and systems developers, Ceres offers a faster route to
market and efficient zero-carbon hydrogen production. This saves our partners
the time, effort and resource needed to develop their own solutions and allows
them to focus on their strengths in industrial manufacturing and distribution.
In return, Ceres is able to leverage the manufacturing expertise, market
presence and balance sheets of these partners to accelerate market entry for
our technology.
As the geopolitical landscape shifts towards more trade barriers and tariffs,
there will be an increased drive for localisation of production and supply
chains. The licensing model enables Ceres to export IP across borders and to
accelerate our technology towards becoming the industry standard.
Outlook: building commercial traction
Ceres continues to focus on the path to commercialisation with our partners.
Our best-in-class solid oxide platform technology and a highly flexible
licensing business model have attracted the biggest global manufacturers and
systems developers looking to enter the power system and industrial
decarbonisation markets.
The ability to generate power from a range of different fuels at high rates of
efficiency is one of the key differentiators of solid oxide fuel cells. We
anticipate that the first Ceres-based products containing our technology will
be commercially available by the end of the year from Doosan. Doosan has
identified stationary power systems for commercial and data centre
applications as attractive markets. As these and other markets expand for our
SOFC products, we expect to receive growing high-margin royalties
We will also remain focused on building our portfolio of SOEC manufacturing
partners, targeting hard-to-abate industries that are carbon intensive and
cannot be directly electrified. Our SOEC technology offers a highly efficient
solution or industrial decarbonisation. While this process often involves
lengthy and complex value chains, if nations wish to reach their net zero
targets these industries must be decarbonised, and we have seen early momentum
gathering behind our technology.
As ever, none of the achievements of the past year would have been possible
without the dedication and hard work of all the people at Ceres. I'd like to
thank them for their contributions in delivering our technological and
commercial successes during the year, enabling us to look ahead from a
position of strength.
Our clear purpose to deliver clean energy for a clean world remains our
undiminished guiding principle, helping us to stay true to our values and to
focus on building lasting partnerships with those who share our vision.
Isee a wealth of opportunities as the high efficiency power generation and
hydrogen markets around the world continue to evolve. As we build on our
commercial success and technology innovation, Ceres aims to expand its
partnerships globally to deploy its technology at scale and pace. I remain
confident that Ceres can establish its technology as the solid oxide industry
standard. This will position the Company as a key technology player in these
markets for years to come.
Phil Caldwell
Chief Executive Officer
Financial review
2024 was a record year for Ceres with two major manufacturing licence deals
and an electrolyser systems licence announced, enabling near-term licence and
support revenue with future royalty generation. This, along with the continued
execution of existing agreements, has led to record revenue of £51.9 million
(2022: £22.3 million).
During 2024, Ceres continued its strategic investment in core technologies to
drive future growth. With peak investment in technology development milestones
reached in 2023, we implemented a restructuring to optimise our cost base.
This streamlining of the business now allows us to focus on further
commercialisation.
Revenue
The Group reported revenue of £51.9 million in 2024, compared with £22.3
million in the prior year. The 132%
growth can be mostly attributed to revenues generated from the new licence
partners as up-front technology transfers were conducted. Revenue is a
combination of technology transfers, development licences, engineering
services and the provision of technology hardware. Revenue from the previously
announced Shell test evaluation partnership will commence once the
demonstrator is commissioned at Shell's site in Bangalore, India in Q1 2025.
Gross margin
Gross profit of £40.2 million in the year grew by 196% from £13.6 million in
2023, driven by high-margin technology transfers conducted with the new
licence partners. Consequently, gross margins were also improved at 77% (2023:
61%), compared to the prior year. These margins remain much higher than
industry norms due to the licensing nature of Ceres' business model.
Other operating income
Other operating income decreased in the year to £2.8 million (2023: £3.7
million), which reflects the level of RDEC (R&D Expenditure Credits)
claimed in the year compared to the prior year. This is driven by the lower
underlying R&D spend as Ceres has passed peak investment in technology
development.
Operating costs
Operating costs decreased to £74.3 million (2023: £76.6 million) as Ceres
sustained its strategic investment
in core technologies to drive future growth, focusing on
electrolysis-optimised stacks and industrial-scale
electrolyser systems. This was achieved alongside disciplined financial
management, with a restructure
implemented in the second half of the year following peak investments in the
delivery of key technology development milestones and focus on further
commercialisation. Following the restructure, the average number of persons
employed by the Group in the year decreased to 546 (2023: 590), ending the
year with 478 employees.
Finance income and expense
Finance income decreased to £5.8 million (2023: £7.1 million), which
reflects continued strong interest rates on our bank deposits and short-term
investments in money-market funds with a lower average cash position. We
maintain a stringent treasury policy to balance appropriate market returns
with the security of funds including only high investment grade, and
diversification of, financial institutions. Finance expense decreased to £0.4
million (2023: £1.3 million) mostly due to foreign exchange losses in 2023 of
£0.8 million on currencies held in non-Sterling denominations which matured
and therefore did not impact 2024.
Taxation (charge)/credit
Taxation charge increased to £2.4 million (2023: £0.4 million) and reflects
payment of withholding taxes from overseas earnings. The increase can be
attributable to the new manufacturing licence partners acquired in the year.
Loss for the financial year
The Group posted a loss of £28.3 million (2023: £54.0 million) for the
period, which reflects the increase in revenue and gross margin compared to
2023.
Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted EBITDA loss for 2024 decreased to £22.3 million (2023: £50.3
million). Adjusted EBITDA is a non-statutory measure and is detailed in the
Alternative Performance Measures section in this review. The decreased loss is
primarily due to the increased revenue explained above.
Reconciliation between operating loss and adjusted EBITDA
Management believes that presenting Adjusted EBITDA loss allows for a more
direct comparison of the Group's performance against its peers and provides a
better understanding of the underlying trading performance of the Group by
excluding non-recurring, irregular and one-off costs. The Group currently
defines Adjusted EBITDA loss as the operating loss for the year excluding
depreciation and amortisation charges, share-based payment charges, unrealised
losses on forward contracts and exchange gains/losses.
Total capital investments
Total capital investments comprises capital expenditure (plant, property and
equipment) and capitalised development (intangible assets). In 2024, total
capital investments declined to £6.7 million (2023: £14.7 million) mostly
due to reducing investment requirements for our Manufacturing Excellence
Centre in Redhill and a prioritisation of spend as we emphasised cash
discipline during the year.
Working capital movements
During 2024, working capital increased by £15.7 million (2023: £10.0 million
decrease). The two main factors were a £10.6 million increase in trade and
other receivables, primarily due to significant partner invoice payments
received in early 2025, and an £3.4 million net increase in contract assets
and liabilities, reflecting revenue recognition from technology transfer
activities with our new partners in 2024. Our continued focus on aligning
pilot plant production with partner demand ensured that inventory levels
remained stable.
Cash outflow
Cash outflow, comprising changes in cash, cash equivalents and short-term
investments, totalled £37.5 million (2023: £42.4 million). This reduction
reflects increased commercial activity and a focused approach to spending,
partially offset by higher working capital requirements.
Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments
The Group ends the financial year in a strong position with £102.5 million in
cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments (2022: £140.0 million) to
support future investment as we drive revenue growth, manage costs in a
disciplined way and track towards profit and cash flow break-even.
Events after the balance sheet date
In February 2025, Bosch took the strategic decision to cease its development
on SOFC cell and stacks for manufacture. Bosch stated that this decision is
part of broader revised strategic direction and does not reflect Bosch's
confidence in Ceres or our technology. Clearly we are disappointed that Bosch
will discontinue its SOFC operations, but the impact on revenues will only be
in the low single digit millions of euros for 2025.
Outlook
We end 2024 with a strong financial position and are well placed for
significant growth in the future from existing
licensees and future partnership prospects in both the SOFC and SOEC markets.
We continue to invest across the
business to build a sustainable competitive advantage in highly differentiated
solid oxide technology, which offers our partners the potential to
industrialise and commercialise stacks and systems with superior efficiencies,
reliability and economics for the low-carbon power generation and green
hydrogen markets.
Stuart Paynter
Chief Financial Officer
About Ceres
Ceres is a leading developer of clean energy technology: fuel cells for power
generation and electrolysers for the production of green hydrogen. Its
asset-light, licensing model has seen it establish partnerships with some of
the world's largest companies, such as Doosan, Delta, Denso, Shell, Weichai
and Thermax. Ceres' solid oxide technology supports greater electrification of
our energy systems and produces green hydrogen at high efficiencies as a route
to decarbonise emissions-intensive industries such as steelmaking, ammonia and
future fuels. Ceres is listed on the London Stock Exchange ("LSE") (LSE: CWR)
and is classified by the LSE Green Economy Mark, which recognises listed
companies that derive more than 50% of their activity from the green economy.
Read more on our website www.ceres.tech or follow us on LinkedIn. Read more on
our website www.ceres.tech
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or follow us on LinkedIn
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.
Chief Executive's statement
I am proud to report that Ceres has achieved a record-breaking commercial year
in 2024. We reached our highest annual revenue and order intake ever, thanks
to three significant partner licence agreements. These successes highlight our
intensified focus on commercial activities as we expand our partnership
portfolio into new territories worldwide. Consequently, Ceres is in a robust
financial position as we establish our technology as an industry standard.
This will enable us to secure a growing share of both the power generation and
green hydrogen production markets as we move towards first production and
royalties this year.
We have seen growing demand over the past 12 months for power solutions, which
can utilise existing fuels such as natural gas and future fuels such as
hydrogen to be deployed rapidly to meet the growing need of AI data centres
and industrial power needs. In addition to our SOFC business, Ceres has
accelerated the development of its electrolysis technologies to enter the
rapidly expanding green hydrogen industry. Over the past three years, our
ongoing innovation in core solid oxide technology has led to a highly
efficient and cost-effective mode of hydrogen electrolysis for hard-to-abate
industrial sectors, such as green steel, ammonia and synthetic fuels
production. It is incredibly satisfying to see global manufacturing companies
recognising this technology as a solution for both meeting rapidly growing
power demand and also to address industrial decarbonisation.
A year of significant commercial progress
Our first new manufacturing partnership and licence agreement of 2024 was
announced in January with Taiwan's Delta Electronics. With 80,000 people
across approximately 200 facilities, Delta is a manufacturing giant active in
the chemicals, energy, transportation and steel sectors. This was Ceres' first
dual licence for the production of both SOFC and SOEC stacks.
Our expertise in high-efficiency power generation and green hydrogen
production complements Delta's mass manufacturing capabilities, financial and
physical resources and end-market presence. The partnership enables Delta to
move quickly into decarbonisation solutions and complement its current
portfolio of product servicing markets such as data centres, smart buildings,
energy infrastructure, grid balancing and energy storage solutions. Delta is
expected to start manufacturing by the end of 2026, with keen ambitions for
rapid future scale-up.
In July, we signed a SOEC manufacturing licence with Japan's Denso
Corporation, a global Fortune 500 company employing over 160,000 people in 35
countries and regions worldwide. The partnership will enable Denso to produce
Ceres' stack technology under licence, leveraging Denso's expertise in system
control and thermal management to develop technology in green hydrogen
production. In common with other manufacturing licence partnerships, this
agreement provides revenues for licence fees, engineering services and
hardware over multiple years, as well as future royalty payments.
In addition to securing two new manufacturing licences, Ceres signed its first
SOEC system licence partnership with Thermax in September. Strategically, this
is an important relationship for us, taking the business into a significant
new region for decarbonisation technologies. Thermax is one of India's largest
process equipment manufacturers with an extensive industrial portfolio that
includes clean air, clean energy, clean water and chemical solutions. With
industry expertise, it is ideally placed to accelerate deployment of our
technology by engaging end users to pull the technology into hard-to-abate
green ammonia, petrochemical and steel industries.
Our collaboration with Shell to deploy a 1MW SOEC demonstrator was installed
in 2024 and is now ready to produce hydrogen and to deliver important test and
performance data. This partnership has been extended to develop of a 10MW
pressurised module, targeting hydrogen production at 37kWh/kg. The design
would be modular, with the potential to be scaled to hundreds of megawatts and
integrated into industrial plants to produce sustainable future fuels.
The scale-up design builds upon the work undertaken with AtkinsRéalis, a
world-leading engineering, procurement and construction ("EPC") services
group, to deliver the frontend engineering design ("FEED") for a commercial
hydrogen production system based on Ceres' SOEC technology. This design
provided a blueprint of the optimum system architecture for a 100MW+
electrolyser system to produce green hydrogen. We will be validating this
pressurised module with a demonstration project to highlight a highly
efficient pathway to low-cost green hydrogen production for industrial
applications.
In parallel to our initiatives in SOEC, Ceres now has three licensees for our
SOFC technology and our focus remains on supporting the execution of their
respective solid oxide cell and stack manufacturing facilities through to
start of production and first product sales using the Ceres technology.
We expect Doosan to progress to start of production this year for its SOFC
power modules for applications such as data centre and maritime power systems.
Initial royalty payments to Ceres are expected by the end of 2025. This will
be a pivotal moment in our history as these revenues will demonstrate the full
scope of business model as our partners sell products into their end markets.
We continue to support the system development of SOFC power modules by
Weichai, which has a leading position in China's gas engine market, as well as
strong presence in the stationary diesel power generation industry. Weichai
deployed first demonstration SOFC systems of up to 100kW to first customers in
China in December 2024.
In February 2025, Bosch took the strategic decision to cease its development
of SOFC cells and stacks for manufacture. Bosch stated that this decision is
part of broader revised strategic direction and does not reflect Bosch's
confidence in Ceres or our technology. Clearly we are disappointed that Bosch
will discontinue its SOFC operations, but the impact on revenues for 2025 will
be in the low single digit millions of euros.
Market backdrop and opportunities
Governments around the world have recognised the need to provide power
solutions for continued economic growth. We continue to believe that our
technologies have important roles to play. In power mode Ceres SOFC technology
offers fuel flexibility and the highest levels of conversion from fuel to
energy at 65% electrical efficiency in power-only mode, or greater than 90%
when excess heat is also utilised.
This enables key regions to support the decarbonisation of energy systems as
natural gas is set to remain the transition fuel of choice over the medium
term. Nations such as South Korea, China, India and Taiwan will start to
reduce their reliance on coal in the next few years and increase adoption of
nuclear, natural gas and renewable energy power, supported by various
government initiatives.
There is also high demand for energy in specific application areas, such as
AI-driven data centres. The rise of cloud solutions, cryptocurrency and AI
could see data centres accounting for 2,500 to 4,500 terawatt hours ("TWh") of
global electricity demand by 2050, equivalent to 5-9% of the total. This
demand creates greater need for gas or other sources of energy to balance out
the intermittency of renewable energy sources.
While progressing towards global decarbonisation, government incentives
reflect the essential role of hydrogen in meeting this goal - either as a fuel
of the future, as a key feedstock in a number of industrial processes or as a
carrier of energy. Many have put in place specific hydrogen strategies to
incentivise the production, infrastructure development and adoption of green
hydrogen.
For example, Japan aims to generate public and private investment in hydrogen
worth 15 trillion yen, equivalent to around US$98 billion, over the next 15
years, with specific reference to the hard-to-abate sectors. South Korea's
Hydrogen Economy Roadmap for hydrogen infrastructure and commercialisation
strategies is being backed by around US$33 billion of government funding. The
EU is targeting the deployment of 40GW of green hydrogen electrolysis by 2030,
committing up to €470 billion in investments up to 2050 for the hydrogen
economy. Furthermore, its Clean Industrial Deal sets out plans to promote
green industry as well as decarbonising heavy sectors such as steel, cement
and chemical manufacture.
In electrolysis mode our solid oxide technology can be operated in reverse to
produce pure hydrogen from electricity and water. Our SOEC technology operates
at high levels of efficiency as they can integrate waste heat from industrial
processes to convert water to steam. This makes our technology a natural
choice for hydrogen production for hard-to-abate industrial sectors globally.
With our partners we are targeting industries such as steel production,
chemical manufacturing and sustainable future fuels. These industries are
characterised by their reliance on high-temperature processes, the need for
energy-dense fuels, or the use of fossil fuels as feedstock. As a result, they
are difficult to decarbonise using current renewable energy sources or
electric alternatives alone. By 2050, around 49% of total green hydrogen
consumption will be accounted for by these hard-to-abate industries, equating
to approximately 191Mt per annum.
In tandem with our technology and engineering expertise, the Ceres licensing
model has been established to help accelerate the adoption of our
decarbonisation technologies across these industrial sectors.
As the technology of choice for leading global original equipment
manufacturers ("OEM") and systems developers, Ceres offers a faster route to
market and efficient zero-carbon hydrogen production. This saves our partners
the time, effort and resource needed to develop their own solutions and allows
them to focus on their strengths in industrial manufacturing and distribution.
In return, Ceres is able to leverage the manufacturing expertise, market
presence and balance sheets of these partners to accelerate market entry for
our technology.
As the geopolitical landscape shifts towards more trade barriers and tariffs,
there will be an increased drive for localisation of production and supply
chains. The licensing model enables Ceres to export IP across borders and to
accelerate our technology towards becoming the industry standard.
Outlook: building commercial traction
Ceres continues to focus on the path to commercialisation with our partners.
Our best-in-class solid oxide platform technology and a highly flexible
licensing business model have attracted the biggest global manufacturers and
systems developers looking to enter the power system and industrial
decarbonisation markets.
The ability to generate power from a range of different fuels at high rates of
efficiency is one of the key differentiators of solid oxide fuel cells. We
anticipate that the first Ceres-based products containing our technology will
be commercially available by the end of the year from Doosan. Doosan has
identified stationary power systems for commercial and data centre
applications as attractive markets. As these and other markets expand for our
SOFC products, we expect to receive growing high-margin royalties
We will also remain focused on building our portfolio of SOEC manufacturing
partners, targeting hard-to-abate industries that are carbon intensive and
cannot be directly electrified. Our SOEC technology offers a highly efficient
solution or industrial decarbonisation. While this process often involves
lengthy and complex value chains, if nations wish to reach their net zero
targets these industries must be decarbonised, and we have seen early momentum
gathering behind our technology.
As ever, none of the achievements of the past year would have been possible
without the dedication and hard work of all the people at Ceres. I'd like to
thank them for their contributions in delivering our technological and
commercial successes during the year, enabling us to look ahead from a
position of strength.
Our clear purpose to deliver clean energy for a clean world remains our
undiminished guiding principle, helping us to stay true to our values and to
focus on building lasting partnerships with those who share our vision.
I see a wealth of opportunities as the high efficiency power generation and
hydrogen markets around the world continue to evolve. As we build on our
commercial success and technology innovation, Ceres aims to expand its
partnerships globally to deploy its technology at scale and pace. I remain
confident that Ceres can establish its technology as the solid oxide industry
standard. This will position the Company as a key technology player in these
markets for years to come.
Phil Caldwell
Chief Executive Officer
Financial review
2024 was a record year for Ceres with two major manufacturing licence deals
and an electrolyser systems licence announced, enabling near-term licence and
support revenue with future royalty generation. This, along with the continued
execution of existing agreements, has led to record revenue of £51.9 million
(2022: £22.3 million).
During 2024, Ceres continued its strategic investment in core technologies to
drive future growth. With peak investment in technology development milestones
reached in 2023, we implemented a restructuring to optimise our cost base.
This streamlining of the business now allows us to focus on further
commercialisation.
Revenue
The Group reported revenue of £51.9 million in 2024, compared with £22.3
million in the prior year. The 132%
growth can be mostly attributed to revenues generated from the new licence
partners as up-front technology transfers were conducted. Revenue is a
combination of technology transfers, development licences, engineering
services and the provision of technology hardware. Revenue from the previously
announced Shell test evaluation partnership will commence once the
demonstrator is commissioned at Shell's site in Bangalore, India in Q1 2025.
Gross margin
Gross profit of £40.2 million in the year grew by 196% from £13.6 million in
2023, driven by high-margin technology transfers conducted with the new
licence partners. Consequently, gross margins were also improved at 77% (2023:
61%), compared to the prior year. These margins remain much higher than
industry norms due to the licensing nature of Ceres' business model.
Other operating income
Other operating income decreased in the year to £2.8 million (2023: £3.7
million), which reflects the level of RDEC (R&D Expenditure Credits)
claimed in the year compared to the prior year. This is driven by the lower
underlying R&D spend as Ceres has passed peak investment in technology
development.
Operating costs
Operating costs decreased to £74.3 million (2023: £76.6 million) as Ceres
sustained its strategic investment
in core technologies to drive future growth, focusing on
electrolysis-optimised stacks and industrial-scale
electrolyser systems. This was achieved alongside disciplined financial
management, with a restructure
implemented in the second half of the year following peak investments in the
delivery of key technology development milestones and focus on further
commercialisation. Following the restructure, the average number of persons
employed by the Group in the year decreased to 546 (2023: 590), ending the
year with 478 employees.
Finance income and expense
Finance income decreased to £5.8 million (2023: £7.1 million), which
reflects continued strong interest rates on our bank deposits and short-term
investments in money-market funds with a lower average cash position. We
maintain a stringent treasury policy to balance appropriate market returns
with the security of funds including only high investment grade, and
diversification of, financial institutions. Finance expense decreased to £0.4
million (2023: £1.3 million) mostly due to foreign exchange losses in 2023 of
£0.8 million on currencies held in non-Sterling denominations which matured
and therefore did not impact 2024.
Taxation (charge)/credit
Taxation charge increased to £2.4 million (2023: £0.4 million) and reflects
payment of withholding taxes from overseas earnings. The increase can be
attributable to the new manufacturing licence partners acquired in the year.
Loss for the financial year
The Group posted a loss of £28.3 million (2023: £54.0 million) for the
period, which reflects the increase in revenue and gross margin compared to
2023.
Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted EBITDA loss for 2024 decreased to £22.3 million (2023: £50.3
million). Adjusted EBITDA is a non-statutory measure and is detailed in the
Alternative Performance Measures section in this review. The decreased loss is
primarily due to the increased revenue explained above.
Reconciliation between operating loss and adjusted EBITDA
Management believes that presenting Adjusted EBITDA loss allows for a more
direct comparison of the Group's performance against its peers and provides a
better understanding of the underlying trading performance of the Group by
excluding non-recurring, irregular and one-off costs. The Group currently
defines Adjusted EBITDA loss as the operating loss for the year excluding
depreciation and amortisation charges, share-based payment charges, unrealised
losses on forward contracts and exchange gains/losses.
Total capital investments
Total capital investments comprises capital expenditure (plant, property and
equipment) and capitalised development (intangible assets). In 2024, total
capital investments declined to £6.7 million (2023: £14.7 million) mostly
due to reducing investment requirements for our Manufacturing Excellence
Centre in Redhill and a prioritisation of spend as we emphasised cash
discipline during the year.
Working capital movements
During 2024, working capital increased by £15.7 million (2023: £10.0 million
decrease). The two main factors were a £10.6 million increase in trade and
other receivables, primarily due to significant partner invoice payments
received in early 2025, and an £3.4 million net increase in contract assets
and liabilities, reflecting revenue recognition from technology transfer
activities with our new partners in 2024. Our continued focus on aligning
pilot plant production with partner demand ensured that inventory levels
remained stable.
Cash outflow
Cash outflow, comprising changes in cash, cash equivalents and short-term
investments, totalled £37.5 million (2023: £42.4 million). This reduction
reflects increased commercial activity and a focused approach to spending,
partially offset by higher working capital requirements.
Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments
The Group ends the financial year in a strong position with £102.5 million in
cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments (2022: £140.0 million) to
support future investment as we drive revenue growth, manage costs in a
disciplined way and track towards profit and cash flow break-even.
Events after the balance sheet date
In February 2025, Bosch took the strategic decision to cease its development
on SOFC cell and stacks for manufacture. Bosch stated that this decision is
part of broader revised strategic direction and does not reflect Bosch's
confidence in Ceres or our technology. Clearly we are disappointed that Bosch
will discontinue its SOFC operations, but the impact on revenues will only be
in the low single digit millions of euros for 2025.
Outlook
We end 2024 with a strong financial position and are well placed for
significant growth in the future from existing
licensees and future partnership prospects in both the SOFC and SOEC markets.
We continue to invest across the
business to build a sustainable competitive advantage in highly differentiated
solid oxide technology, which offers our partners the potential to
industrialise and commercialise stacks and systems with superior efficiencies,
reliability and economics for the low-carbon power generation and green
hydrogen markets.
Stuart Paynter
Chief Financial Officer
Analyst presentation
Ceres Power Holdings plc will be hosting a live webcast for analysts and
investors on 21 March 2025 at 09.30 GMT. To register your interest in
participating, please go to:
https://sparklive.lseg.com/CeresPowerHoldingsCrawley/events/2090b911-c4ab-43ca-846a-02a55cd1f1b8/2024-full-year-results
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For further information visit www.ceres.tech
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or contact:
Ceres Power Holdings plc
Patrick Yau/ Merryl Black Tel: +44 (0)7884 654 179
Email: investors@cerespower.com
MHP Group (PR Adviser) Tel: +44 (0)7831 406117
Reg Hoare/James Macfarlane/Matthew Taylor Email: ceres@mhpgroup.com (mailto:Ceres_power@fticonsulting.com)
About Ceres
Ceres is a leading developer of clean energy technology: fuel cells for power
generation and electrolysers for the production of green hydrogen. Its
asset-light, licensing model has seen it establish partnerships with some of
the world's largest companies, such as Doosan, Delta, Denso, Shell, Weichai
and Thermax. Ceres' solid oxide technology supports greater electrification of
our energy systems and produces green hydrogen at high efficiencies as a route
to decarbonise emissions-intensive industries such as steelmaking, ammonia and
future fuels. Ceres is listed on the London Stock Exchange ("LSE") (LSE: CWR)
and is classified by the LSE Green Economy Mark, which recognises listed
companies that derive more than 50% of their activity from the green economy.
Read more on our website www.ceres.tech or follow us on LinkedIn. Read more on
our website www.ceres.tech
(https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r06/___http:/www.ceres.tech___.ZXV3MjpuZXh0MTU6YzpvOmE3NWE3NzI3ZGVkZmUyMDU5MDkyYmMzY2RmY2MxNzBkOjc6OTNiODpmZTJiYjQ3OGUzNTg1NGNjZTY3YTU0OTI1ZThhY2ZiNzliNTlhYmY1ZjViOWUyODIyODE0Njk2NzBlOTI0ZTNlOnA6RjpU)
or follow us on LinkedIn
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.
Chief Executive's statement
I am proud to report that Ceres has achieved a record-breaking commercial year
in 2024. We reached our highest annual revenue and order intake ever, thanks
to three significant partner licence agreements. These successes highlight our
intensified focus on commercial activities as we expand our partnership
portfolio into new territories worldwide. Consequently, Ceres is in a robust
financial position as we establish our technology as an industry standard.
This will enable us to secure a growing share of both the power generation and
green hydrogen production markets as we move towards first production and
royalties this year.
We have seen growing demand over the past 12 months for power solutions, which
can utilise existing fuels such as natural gas and future fuels such as
hydrogen to be deployed rapidly to meet the growing need of AI data centres
and industrial power needs. In addition to our SOFC business, Ceres has
accelerated the development of its electrolysis technologies to enter the
rapidly expanding green hydrogen industry. Over the past three years, our
ongoing innovation in core solid oxide technology has led to a highly
efficient and cost-effective mode of hydrogen electrolysis for hard-to-abate
industrial sectors, such as green steel, ammonia and synthetic fuels
production. It is incredibly satisfying to see global manufacturing companies
recognising this technology as a solution for both meeting rapidly growing
power demand and also to address industrial decarbonisation.
A year of significant commercial progress
Our first new manufacturing partnership and licence agreement of 2024 was
announced in January with Taiwan's Delta Electronics. With 80,000 people
across approximately 200 facilities, Delta is a manufacturing giant active in
the chemicals, energy, transportation and steel sectors. This was Ceres' first
dual licence for the production of both SOFC and SOEC stacks.
Our expertise in high-efficiency power generation and green hydrogen
production complements Delta's mass manufacturing capabilities, financial and
physical resources and end-market presence. The partnership enables Delta to
move quickly into decarbonisation solutions and complement its current
portfolio of product servicing markets such as data centres, smart buildings,
energy infrastructure, grid balancing and energy storage solutions. Delta is
expected to start manufacturing by the end of 2026, with keen ambitions for
rapid future scale-up.
In July, we signed a SOEC manufacturing licence with Japan's Denso
Corporation, a global Fortune 500 company employing over 160,000 people in 35
countries and regions worldwide. The partnership will enable Denso to produce
Ceres' stack technology under licence, leveraging Denso's expertise in system
control and thermal management to develop technology in green hydrogen
production. In common with other manufacturing licence partnerships, this
agreement provides revenues for licence fees, engineering services and
hardware over multiple years, as well as future royalty payments.
In addition to securing two new manufacturing licences, Ceres signed its first
SOEC system licence partnership with Thermax in September. Strategically, this
is an important relationship for us, taking the business into a significant
new region for decarbonisation technologies. Thermax is one of India's largest
process equipment manufacturers with an extensive industrial portfolio that
includes clean air, clean energy, clean water and chemical solutions. With
industry expertise, it is ideally placed to accelerate deployment of our
technology by engaging end users to pull the technology into hard-to-abate
green ammonia, petrochemical and steel industries.
Our collaboration with Shell to deploy a 1MW SOEC demonstrator was installed
in 2024 and is now ready to produce hydrogen and to deliver important test and
performance data. This partnership has been extended to develop of a 10MW
pressurised module, targeting hydrogen production at 37kWh/kg. The design
would be modular, with the potential to be scaled to hundreds of megawatts and
integrated into industrial plants to produce sustainable future fuels.
The scale-up design builds upon the work undertaken with AtkinsRéalis, a
world-leading engineering, procurement and construction ("EPC") services
group, to deliver the frontend engineering design ("FEED") for a commercial
hydrogen production system based on Ceres' SOEC technology. This design
provided a blueprint of the optimum system architecture for a 100MW+
electrolyser system to produce green hydrogen. We will be validating this
pressurised module with a demonstration project to highlight a highly
efficient pathway to low-cost green hydrogen production for industrial
applications.
In parallel to our initiatives in SOEC, Ceres now has three licensees for our
SOFC technology and our focus remains on supporting the execution of their
respective solid oxide cell and stack manufacturing facilities through to
start of production and first product sales using the Ceres technology.
We expect Doosan to progress to start of production this year for its SOFC
power modules for applications such as data centre and maritime power systems.
Initial royalty payments to Ceres are expected by the end of 2025. This will
be a pivotal moment in our history as these revenues will demonstrate the full
scope of business model as our partners sell products into their end markets.
We continue to support the system development of SOFC power modules by
Weichai, which has a leading position in China's gas engine market, as well as
strong presence in the stationary diesel power generation industry. Weichai
deployed first demonstration SOFC systems of up to 100kW to first customers in
China in December 2024.
In February 2025, Bosch took the strategic decision to cease its development
of SOFC cells and stacks for manufacture. Bosch stated that this decision is
part of broader revised strategic direction and does not reflect Bosch's
confidence in Ceres or our technology. Clearly we are disappointed that Bosch
will discontinue its SOFC operations, but the impact on revenues for 2025 will
be in the low single digit millions of euros.
Market backdrop and opportunities
Governments around the world have recognised the need to provide power
solutions for continued economic growth. We continue to believe that our
technologies have important roles to play. In power mode Ceres SOFC technology
offers fuel flexibility and the highest levels of conversion from fuel to
energy at 65% electrical efficiency in power-only mode, or greater than 90%
when excess heat is also utilised.
This enables key regions to support the decarbonisation of energy systems as
natural gas is set to remain the transition fuel of choice over the medium
term. Nations such as South Korea, China, India and Taiwan will start to
reduce their reliance on coal in the next few years and increase adoption of
nuclear, natural gas and renewable energy power, supported by various
government initiatives.
There is also high demand for energy in specific application areas, such as
AI-driven data centres. The rise of cloud solutions, cryptocurrency and AI
could see data centres accounting for 2,500 to 4,500 terawatt hours ("TWh") of
global electricity demand by 2050, equivalent to 5-9% of the total. This
demand creates greater need for gas or other sources of energy to balance out
the intermittency of renewable energy sources.
While progressing towards global decarbonisation, government incentives
reflect the essential role of hydrogen in meeting this goal - either as a fuel
of the future, as a key feedstock in a number of industrial processes or as a
carrier of energy. Many have put in place specific hydrogen strategies to
incentivise the production, infrastructure development and adoption of green
hydrogen.
For example, Japan aims to generate public and private investment in hydrogen
worth 15 trillion yen, equivalent to around US$98 billion, over the next 15
years, with specific reference to the hard-to-abate sectors. South Korea's
Hydrogen Economy Roadmap for hydrogen infrastructure and commercialisation
strategies is being backed by around US$33 billion of government funding. The
EU is targeting the deployment of 40GW of green hydrogen electrolysis by 2030,
committing up to €470 billion in investments up to 2050 for the hydrogen
economy. Furthermore, its Clean Industrial Deal sets out plans to promote
green industry as well as decarbonising heavy sectors such as steel, cement
and chemical manufacture.
In electrolysis mode our solid oxide technology can be operated in reverse to
produce pure hydrogen from electricity and water. Our SOEC technology operates
at high levels of efficiency as they can integrate waste heat from industrial
processes to convert water to steam. This makes our technology a natural
choice for hydrogen production for hard-to-abate industrial sectors globally.
With our partners we are targeting industries such as steel production,
chemical manufacturing and sustainable future fuels. These industries are
characterised by their reliance on high-temperature processes, the need for
energy-dense fuels, or the use of fossil fuels as feedstock. As a result, they
are difficult to decarbonise using current renewable energy sources or
electric alternatives alone. By 2050, around 49% of total green hydrogen
consumption will be accounted for by these hard-to-abate industries, equating
to approximately 191Mt per annum.
In tandem with our technology and engineering expertise, the Ceres licensing
model has been established to help accelerate the adoption of our
decarbonisation technologies across these industrial sectors.
As the technology of choice for leading global original equipment
manufacturers ("OEM") and systems developers, Ceres offers a faster route to
market and efficient zero-carbon hydrogen production. This saves our partners
the time, effort and resource needed to develop their own solutions and allows
them to focus on their strengths in industrial manufacturing and distribution.
In return, Ceres is able to leverage the manufacturing expertise, market
presence and balance sheets of these partners to accelerate market entry for
our technology.
As the geopolitical landscape shifts towards more trade barriers and tariffs,
there will be an increased drive for localisation of production and supply
chains. The licensing model enables Ceres to export IP across borders and to
accelerate our technology towards becoming the industry standard.
Outlook: building commercial traction
Ceres continues to focus on the path to commercialisation with our partners.
Our best-in-class solid oxide platform technology and a highly flexible
licensing business model have attracted the biggest global manufacturers and
systems developers looking to enter the power system and industrial
decarbonisation markets.
The ability to generate power from a range of different fuels at high rates of
efficiency is one of the key differentiators of solid oxide fuel cells. We
anticipate that the first Ceres-based products containing our technology will
be commercially available by the end of the year from Doosan. Doosan has
identified stationary power systems for commercial and data centre
applications as attractive markets. As these and other markets expand for our
SOFC products, we expect to receive growing high-margin royalties
We will also remain focused on building our portfolio of SOEC manufacturing
partners, targeting hard-to-abate industries that are carbon intensive and
cannot be directly electrified. Our SOEC technology offers a highly efficient
solution or industrial decarbonisation. While this process often involves
lengthy and complex value chains, if nations wish to reach their net zero
targets these industries must be decarbonised, and we have seen early momentum
gathering behind our technology.
As ever, none of the achievements of the past year would have been possible
without the dedication and hard work of all the people at Ceres. I'd like to
thank them for their contributions in delivering our technological and
commercial successes during the year, enabling us to look ahead from a
position of strength.
Our clear purpose to deliver clean energy for a clean world remains our
undiminished guiding principle, helping us to stay true to our values and to
focus on building lasting partnerships with those who share our vision.
I see a wealth of opportunities as the high efficiency power generation and
hydrogen markets around the world continue to evolve. As we build on our
commercial success and technology innovation, Ceres aims to expand its
partnerships globally to deploy its technology at scale and pace. I remain
confident that Ceres can establish its technology as the solid oxide industry
standard. This will position the Company as a key technology player in these
markets for years to come.
Phil Caldwell
Chief Executive Officer
Financial review
2024 was a record year for Ceres with two major manufacturing licence deals
and an electrolyser systems licence announced, enabling near-term licence and
support revenue with future royalty generation. This, along with the continued
execution of existing agreements, has led to record revenue of £51.9 million
(2022: £22.3 million).
During 2024, Ceres continued its strategic investment in core technologies to
drive future growth. With peak investment in technology development milestones
reached in 2023, we implemented a restructuring to optimise our cost base.
This streamlining of the business now allows us to focus on further
commercialisation.
Revenue
The Group reported revenue of £51.9 million in 2024, compared with £22.3
million in the prior year. The 132%
growth can be mostly attributed to revenues generated from the new licence
partners as up-front technology transfers were conducted. Revenue is a
combination of technology transfers, development licences, engineering
services and the provision of technology hardware. Revenue from the previously
announced Shell test evaluation partnership will commence once the
demonstrator is commissioned at Shell's site in Bangalore, India in Q1 2025.
Gross margin
Gross profit of £40.2 million in the year grew by 196% from £13.6 million in
2023, driven by high-margin technology transfers conducted with the new
licence partners. Consequently, gross margins were also improved at 77% (2023:
61%), compared to the prior year. These margins remain much higher than
industry norms due to the licensing nature of Ceres' business model.
Other operating income
Other operating income decreased in the year to £2.8 million (2023: £3.7
million), which reflects the level of RDEC (R&D Expenditure Credits)
claimed in the year compared to the prior year. This is driven by the lower
underlying R&D spend as Ceres has passed peak investment in technology
development.
Operating costs
Operating costs decreased to £74.3 million (2023: £76.6 million) as Ceres
sustained its strategic investment
in core technologies to drive future growth, focusing on
electrolysis-optimised stacks and industrial-scale
electrolyser systems. This was achieved alongside disciplined financial
management, with a restructure
implemented in the second half of the year following peak investments in the
delivery of key technology development milestones and focus on further
commercialisation. Following the restructure, the average number of persons
employed by the Group in the year decreased to 546 (2023: 590), ending the
year with 478 employees.
Finance income and expense
Finance income decreased to £5.8 million (2023: £7.1 million), which
reflects continued strong interest rates on our bank deposits and short-term
investments in money-market funds with a lower average cash position. We
maintain a stringent treasury policy to balance appropriate market returns
with the security of funds including only high investment grade, and
diversification of, financial institutions. Finance expense decreased to £0.4
million (2023: £1.3 million) mostly due to foreign exchange losses in 2023 of
£0.8 million on currencies held in non-Sterling denominations which matured
and therefore did not impact 2024.
Taxation (charge)/credit
Taxation charge increased to £2.4 million (2023: £0.4 million) and reflects
payment of withholding taxes from overseas earnings. The increase can be
attributable to the new manufacturing licence partners acquired in the year.
Loss for the financial year
The Group posted a loss of £28.3 million (2023: £54.0 million) for the
period, which reflects the increase in revenue and gross margin compared to
2023.
Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted EBITDA loss for 2024 decreased to £22.3 million (2023: £50.3
million). Adjusted EBITDA is a non-statutory measure and is detailed in the
Alternative Performance Measures section in this review. The decreased loss is
primarily due to the increased revenue explained above.
Reconciliation between operating loss and adjusted EBITDA
Management believes that presenting Adjusted EBITDA loss allows for a more
direct comparison of the Group's performance against its peers and provides a
better understanding of the underlying trading performance of the Group by
excluding non-recurring, irregular and one-off costs. The Group currently
defines Adjusted EBITDA loss as the operating loss for the year excluding
depreciation and amortisation charges, share-based payment charges, unrealised
losses on forward contracts and exchange gains/losses.
Total capital investments
Total capital investments comprises capital expenditure (plant, property and
equipment) and capitalised development (intangible assets). In 2024, total
capital investments declined to £6.7 million (2023: £14.7 million) mostly
due to reducing investment requirements for our Manufacturing Excellence
Centre in Redhill and a prioritisation of spend as we emphasised cash
discipline during the year.
Working capital movements
During 2024, working capital increased by £15.7 million (2023: £10.0 million
decrease). The two main factors were a £10.6 million increase in trade and
other receivables, primarily due to significant partner invoice payments
received in early 2025, and an £3.4 million net increase in contract assets
and liabilities, reflecting revenue recognition from technology transfer
activities with our new partners in 2024. Our continued focus on aligning
pilot plant production with partner demand ensured that inventory levels
remained stable.
Cash outflow
Cash outflow, comprising changes in cash, cash equivalents and short-term
investments, totalled £37.5 million (2023: £42.4 million). This reduction
reflects increased commercial activity and a focused approach to spending,
partially offset by higher working capital requirements.
Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments
The Group ends the financial year in a strong position with £102.5 million in
cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments (2022: £140.0 million) to
support future investment as we drive revenue growth, manage costs in a
disciplined way and track towards profit and cash flow break-even.
Events after the balance sheet date
In February 2025, Bosch took the strategic decision to cease its development
on SOFC cell and stacks for manufacture. Bosch stated that this decision is
part of broader revised strategic direction and does not reflect Bosch's
confidence in Ceres or our technology. Clearly we are disappointed that Bosch
will discontinue its SOFC operations, but the impact on revenues will only be
in the low single digit millions of euros for 2025.
Outlook
We end 2024 with a strong financial position and are well placed for
significant growth in the future from existing
licensees and future partnership prospects in both the SOFC and SOEC markets.
We continue to invest across the
business to build a sustainable competitive advantage in highly differentiated
solid oxide technology, which offers our partners the potential to
industrialise and commercialise stacks and systems with superior efficiencies,
reliability and economics for the low-carbon power generation and green
hydrogen markets.
Stuart Paynter
Chief Financial Officer
About Ceres
Ceres is a leading developer of clean energy technology: fuel cells for power
generation and electrolysers for the production of green hydrogen. Its
asset-light, licensing model has seen it establish partnerships with some of
the world's largest companies, such as Doosan, Delta, Denso, Shell, Weichai
and Thermax. Ceres' solid oxide technology supports greater electrification of
our energy systems and produces green hydrogen at high efficiencies as a route
to decarbonise emissions-intensive industries such as steelmaking, ammonia and
future fuels. Ceres is listed on the London Stock Exchange ("LSE") (LSE: CWR)
and is classified by the LSE Green Economy Mark, which recognises listed
companies that derive more than 50% of their activity from the green economy.
Read more on our website www.ceres.tech or follow us on LinkedIn. Read more on
our website www.ceres.tech
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or follow us on LinkedIn
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.
Chief Executive's statement
I am proud to report that Ceres has achieved a record-breaking commercial year
in 2024. We reached our highest annual revenue and order intake ever, thanks
to three significant partner licence agreements. These successes highlight our
intensified focus on commercial activities as we expand our partnership
portfolio into new territories worldwide. Consequently, Ceres is in a robust
financial position as we establish our technology as an industry standard.
This will enable us to secure a growing share of both the power generation and
green hydrogen production markets as we move towards first production and
royalties this year.
We have seen growing demand over the past 12 months for power solutions, which
can utilise existing fuels such as natural gas and future fuels such as
hydrogen to be deployed rapidly to meet the growing need of AI data centres
and industrial power needs. In addition to our SOFC business, Ceres has
accelerated the development of its electrolysis technologies to enter the
rapidly expanding green hydrogen industry. Over the past three years, our
ongoing innovation in core solid oxide technology has led to a highly
efficient and cost-effective mode of hydrogen electrolysis for hard-to-abate
industrial sectors, such as green steel, ammonia and synthetic fuels
production. It is incredibly satisfying to see global manufacturing companies
recognising this technology as a solution for both meeting rapidly growing
power demand and also to address industrial decarbonisation.
A year of significant commercial progress
Our first new manufacturing partnership and licence agreement of 2024 was
announced in January with Taiwan's Delta Electronics. With 80,000 people
across approximately 200 facilities, Delta is a manufacturing giant active in
the chemicals, energy, transportation and steel sectors. This was Ceres' first
dual licence for the production of both SOFC and SOEC stacks.
Our expertise in high-efficiency power generation and green hydrogen
production complements Delta's mass manufacturing capabilities, financial and
physical resources and end-market presence. The partnership enables Delta to
move quickly into decarbonisation solutions and complement its current
portfolio of product servicing markets such as data centres, smart buildings,
energy infrastructure, grid balancing and energy storage solutions. Delta is
expected to start manufacturing by the end of 2026, with keen ambitions for
rapid future scale-up.
In July, we signed a SOEC manufacturing licence with Japan's Denso
Corporation, a global Fortune 500 company employing over 160,000 people in 35
countries and regions worldwide. The partnership will enable Denso to produce
Ceres' stack technology under licence, leveraging Denso's expertise in system
control and thermal management to develop technology in green hydrogen
production. In common with other manufacturing licence partnerships, this
agreement provides revenues for licence fees, engineering services and
hardware over multiple years, as well as future royalty payments.
In addition to securing two new manufacturing licences, Ceres signed its first
SOEC system licence partnership with Thermax in September. Strategically, this
is an important relationship for us, taking the business into a significant
new region for decarbonisation technologies. Thermax is one of India's largest
process equipment manufacturers with an extensive industrial portfolio that
includes clean air, clean energy, clean water and chemical solutions. With
industry expertise, it is ideally placed to accelerate deployment of our
technology by engaging end users to pull the technology into hard-to-abate
green ammonia, petrochemical and steel industries.
Our collaboration with Shell to deploy a 1MW SOEC demonstrator was installed
in 2024 and is now ready to produce hydrogen and to deliver important test and
performance data. This partnership has been extended to develop of a 10MW
pressurised module, targeting hydrogen production at 37kWh/kg. The design
would be modular, with the potential to be scaled to hundreds of megawatts and
integrated into industrial plants to produce sustainable future fuels.
The scale-up design builds upon the work undertaken with AtkinsRéalis, a
world-leading engineering, procurement and construction ("EPC") services
group, to deliver the frontend engineering design ("FEED") for a commercial
hydrogen production system based on Ceres' SOEC technology. This design
provided a blueprint of the optimum system architecture for a 100MW+
electrolyser system to produce green hydrogen. We will be validating this
pressurised module with a demonstration project to highlight a highly
efficient pathway to low-cost green hydrogen production for industrial
applications.
In parallel to our initiatives in SOEC, Ceres now has three licensees for our
SOFC technology and our focus remains on supporting the execution of their
respective solid oxide cell and stack manufacturing facilities through to
start of production and first product sales using the Ceres technology.
We expect Doosan to progress to start of production this year for its SOFC
power modules for applications such as data centre and maritime power systems.
Initial royalty payments to Ceres are expected by the end of 2025. This will
be a pivotal moment in our history as these revenues will demonstrate the full
scope of business model as our partners sell products into their end markets.
We continue to support the system development of SOFC power modules by
Weichai, which has a leading position in China's gas engine market, as well as
strong presence in the stationary diesel power generation industry. Weichai
deployed first demonstration SOFC systems of up to 100kW to first customers in
China in December 2024.
In February 2025, Bosch took the strategic decision to cease its development
of SOFC cells and stacks for manufacture. Bosch stated that this decision is
part of broader revised strategic direction and does not reflect Bosch's
confidence in Ceres or our technology. Clearly we are disappointed that Bosch
will discontinue its SOFC operations, but the impact on revenues for 2025 will
be in the low single digit millions of euros.
Market backdrop and opportunities
Governments around the world have recognised the need to provide power
solutions for continued economic growth. We continue to believe that our
technologies have important roles to play. In power mode Ceres SOFC technology
offers fuel flexibility and the highest levels of conversion from fuel to
energy at 65% electrical efficiency in power-only mode, or greater than 90%
when excess heat is also utilised.
This enables key regions to support the decarbonisation of energy systems as
natural gas is set to remain the transition fuel of choice over the medium
term. Nations such as South Korea, China, India and Taiwan will start to
reduce their reliance on coal in the next few years and increase adoption of
nuclear, natural gas and renewable energy power, supported by various
government initiatives.
There is also high demand for energy in specific application areas, such as
AI-driven data centres. The rise of cloud solutions, cryptocurrency and AI
could see data centres accounting for 2,500 to 4,500 terawatt hours ("TWh") of
global electricity demand by 2050, equivalent to 5-9% of the total. This
demand creates greater need for gas or other sources of energy to balance out
the intermittency of renewable energy sources.
While progressing towards global decarbonisation, government incentives
reflect the essential role of hydrogen in meeting this goal - either as a fuel
of the future, as a key feedstock in a number of industrial processes or as a
carrier of energy. Many have put in place specific hydrogen strategies to
incentivise the production, infrastructure development and adoption of green
hydrogen.
For example, Japan aims to generate public and private investment in hydrogen
worth 15 trillion yen, equivalent to around US$98 billion, over the next 15
years, with specific reference to the hard-to-abate sectors. South Korea's
Hydrogen Economy Roadmap for hydrogen infrastructure and commercialisation
strategies is being backed by around US$33 billion of government funding. The
EU is targeting the deployment of 40GW of green hydrogen electrolysis by 2030,
committing up to €470 billion in investments up to 2050 for the hydrogen
economy. Furthermore, its Clean Industrial Deal sets out plans to promote
green industry as well as decarbonising heavy sectors such as steel, cement
and chemical manufacture.
In electrolysis mode our solid oxide technology can be operated in reverse to
produce pure hydrogen from electricity and water. Our SOEC technology operates
at high levels of efficiency as they can integrate waste heat from industrial
processes to convert water to steam. This makes our technology a natural
choice for hydrogen production for hard-to-abate industrial sectors globally.
With our partners we are targeting industries such as steel production,
chemical manufacturing and sustainable future fuels. These industries are
characterised by their reliance on high-temperature processes, the need for
energy-dense fuels, or the use of fossil fuels as feedstock. As a result, they
are difficult to decarbonise using current renewable energy sources or
electric alternatives alone. By 2050, around 49% of total green hydrogen
consumption will be accounted for by these hard-to-abate industries, equating
to approximately 191Mt per annum.
In tandem with our technology and engineering expertise, the Ceres licensing
model has been established to help accelerate the adoption of our
decarbonisation technologies across these industrial sectors.
As the technology of choice for leading global original equipment
manufacturers ("OEM") and systems developers, Ceres offers a faster route to
market and efficient zero-carbon hydrogen production. This saves our partners
the time, effort and resource needed to develop their own solutions and allows
them to focus on their strengths in industrial manufacturing and distribution.
In return, Ceres is able to leverage the manufacturing expertise, market
presence and balance sheets of these partners to accelerate market entry for
our technology.
As the geopolitical landscape shifts towards more trade barriers and tariffs,
there will be an increased drive for localisation of production and supply
chains. The licensing model enables Ceres to export IP across borders and to
accelerate our technology towards becoming the industry standard.
Outlook: building commercial traction
Ceres continues to focus on the path to commercialisation with our partners.
Our best-in-class solid oxide platform technology and a highly flexible
licensing business model have attracted the biggest global manufacturers and
systems developers looking to enter the power system and industrial
decarbonisation markets.
The ability to generate power from a range of different fuels at high rates of
efficiency is one of the key differentiators of solid oxide fuel cells. We
anticipate that the first Ceres-based products containing our technology will
be commercially available by the end of the year from Doosan. Doosan has
identified stationary power systems for commercial and data centre
applications as attractive markets. As these and other markets expand for our
SOFC products, we expect to receive growing high-margin royalties
We will also remain focused on building our portfolio of SOEC manufacturing
partners, targeting hard-to-abate industries that are carbon intensive and
cannot be directly electrified. Our SOEC technology offers a highly efficient
solution or industrial decarbonisation. While this process often involves
lengthy and complex value chains, if nations wish to reach their net zero
targets these industries must be decarbonised, and we have seen early momentum
gathering behind our technology.
As ever, none of the achievements of the past year would have been possible
without the dedication and hard work of all the people at Ceres. I'd like to
thank them for their contributions in delivering our technological and
commercial successes during the year, enabling us to look ahead from a
position of strength.
Our clear purpose to deliver clean energy for a clean world remains our
undiminished guiding principle, helping us to stay true to our values and to
focus on building lasting partnerships with those who share our vision.
I see a wealth of opportunities as the high efficiency power generation and
hydrogen markets around the world continue to evolve. As we build on our
commercial success and technology innovation, Ceres aims to expand its
partnerships globally to deploy its technology at scale and pace. I remain
confident that Ceres can establish its technology as the solid oxide industry
standard. This will position the Company as a key technology player in these
markets for years to come.
Phil Caldwell
Chief Executive Officer
Financial review
2024 was a record year for Ceres with two major manufacturing licence deals
and an electrolyser systems licence announced, enabling near-term licence and
support revenue with future royalty generation. This, along with the continued
execution of existing agreements, has led to record revenue of £51.9 million
(2022: £22.3 million).
During 2024, Ceres continued its strategic investment in core technologies to
drive future growth. With peak investment in technology development milestones
reached in 2023, we implemented a restructuring to optimise our cost base.
This streamlining of the business now allows us to focus on further
commercialisation.
Revenue
The Group reported revenue of £51.9 million in 2024, compared with £22.3
million in the prior year. The 132%
growth can be mostly attributed to revenues generated from the new licence
partners as up-front technology transfers were conducted. Revenue is a
combination of technology transfers, development licences, engineering
services and the provision of technology hardware. Revenue from the previously
announced Shell test evaluation partnership will commence once the
demonstrator is commissioned at Shell's site in Bangalore, India in Q1 2025.
Gross margin
Gross profit of £40.2 million in the year grew by 196% from £13.6 million in
2023, driven by high-margin technology transfers conducted with the new
licence partners. Consequently, gross margins were also improved at 77% (2023:
61%), compared to the prior year. These margins remain much higher than
industry norms due to the licensing nature of Ceres' business model.
Other operating income
Other operating income decreased in the year to £2.8 million (2023: £3.7
million), which reflects the level of RDEC (R&D Expenditure Credits)
claimed in the year compared to the prior year. This is driven by the lower
underlying R&D spend as Ceres has passed peak investment in technology
development.
Operating costs
Operating costs decreased to £74.3 million (2023: £76.6 million) as Ceres
sustained its strategic investment
in core technologies to drive future growth, focusing on
electrolysis-optimised stacks and industrial-scale
electrolyser systems. This was achieved alongside disciplined financial
management, with a restructure
implemented in the second half of the year following peak investments in the
delivery of key technology development milestones and focus on further
commercialisation. Following the restructure, the average number of persons
employed by the Group in the year decreased to 546 (2023: 590), ending the
year with 478 employees.
Finance income and expense
Finance income decreased to £5.8 million (2023: £7.1 million), which
reflects continued strong interest rates on our bank deposits and short-term
investments in money-market funds with a lower average cash position. We
maintain a stringent treasury policy to balance appropriate market returns
with the security of funds including only high investment grade, and
diversification of, financial institutions. Finance expense decreased to £0.4
million (2023: £1.3 million) mostly due to foreign exchange losses in 2023 of
£0.8 million on currencies held in non-Sterling denominations which matured
and therefore did not impact 2024.
Taxation (charge)/credit
Taxation charge increased to £2.4 million (2023: £0.4 million) and reflects
payment of withholding taxes from overseas earnings. The increase can be
attributable to the new manufacturing licence partners acquired in the year.
Loss for the financial year
The Group posted a loss of £28.3 million (2023: £54.0 million) for the
period, which reflects the increase in revenue and gross margin compared to
2023.
Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted EBITDA loss for 2024 decreased to £22.3 million (2023: £50.3
million). Adjusted EBITDA is a non-statutory measure and is detailed in the
Alternative Performance Measures section in this review. The decreased loss is
primarily due to the increased revenue explained above.
Reconciliation between operating loss and adjusted EBITDA
Management believes that presenting Adjusted EBITDA loss allows for a more
direct comparison of the Group's performance against its peers and provides a
better understanding of the underlying trading performance of the Group by
excluding non-recurring, irregular and one-off costs. The Group currently
defines Adjusted EBITDA loss as the operating loss for the year excluding
depreciation and amortisation charges, share-based payment charges, unrealised
losses on forward contracts and exchange gains/losses.
Total capital investments
Total capital investments comprises capital expenditure (plant, property and
equipment) and capitalised development (intangible assets). In 2024, total
capital investments declined to £6.7 million (2023: £14.7 million) mostly
due to reducing investment requirements for our Manufacturing Excellence
Centre in Redhill and a prioritisation of spend as we emphasised cash
discipline during the year.
Working capital movements
During 2024, working capital increased by £15.7 million (2023: £10.0 million
decrease). The two main factors were a £10.6 million increase in trade and
other receivables, primarily due to significant partner invoice payments
received in early 2025, and an £3.4 million net increase in contract assets
and liabilities, reflecting revenue recognition from technology transfer
activities with our new partners in 2024. Our continued focus on aligning
pilot plant production with partner demand ensured that inventory levels
remained stable.
Cash outflow
Cash outflow, comprising changes in cash, cash equivalents and short-term
investments, totalled £37.5 million (2023: £42.4 million). This reduction
reflects increased commercial activity and a focused approach to spending,
partially offset by higher working capital requirements.
Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments
The Group ends the financial year in a strong position with £102.5 million in
cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments (2022: £140.0 million) to
support future investment as we drive revenue growth, manage costs in a
disciplined way and track towards profit and cash flow break-even.
Events after the balance sheet date
In February 2025, Bosch took the strategic decision to cease its development
on SOFC cell and stacks for manufacture. Bosch stated that this decision is
part of broader revised strategic direction and does not reflect Bosch's
confidence in Ceres or our technology. Clearly we are disappointed that Bosch
will discontinue its SOFC operations, but the impact on revenues will only be
in the low single digit millions of euros for 2025.
Outlook
We end 2024 with a strong financial position and are well placed for
significant growth in the future from existing
licensees and future partnership prospects in both the SOFC and SOEC markets.
We continue to invest across the
business to build a sustainable competitive advantage in highly differentiated
solid oxide technology, which offers our partners the potential to
industrialise and commercialise stacks and systems with superior efficiencies,
reliability and economics for the low-carbon power generation and green
hydrogen markets.
Stuart Paynter
Chief Financial Officer
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF PROFIT AND LOSS AND OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
For the year ended 31 December 2024
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
Note £'000 £'000
Revenue 2 51,891 22,324
Cost of sales (11,727) (8,770)
Gross profit 40,164 13,554
Other operating income(1) 2,846 3,665
Operating costs 3 (74,327) (76,620)
Operating loss (31,317) (59,401)
Finance income 4 5,807 7,079
Finance expense 4 (362) (1,287)
Loss before taxation (25,872) (53,609)
Taxation (charge)/credit 5 (2,433) (399)
Loss for the financial period and total comprehensive loss (28,305) (54,008)
Loss per £0.10 ordinary share expressed in pence per share:
Basic and diluted loss per share 6 (14.64)p (28.03)p
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial
statements.
(1) Other operating income relates to grant income and the Group's RDEC tax
credit.
( )
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
As at 31 December 2024
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
Note £'000 £'000
Assets
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment 7 23,584 25,882
Right-of-use assets 8 1,834 2,141
Intangible assets 9 19,974 19,054
Investment in associate 2,218 2,350
Other receivables 11 741 741
Total non-current assets 48,351 50,168
Current assets
Inventories 10 2,756 2,825
Contract assets 2 8,208 1,575
Other current assets 12 1,430 1,193
Derivative financial instruments 16 8 8
Current tax receivable ꟷ 771
Trade and other receivables 11 17,885 9,876
Short-term investments 13 54,971 90,249
Cash and cash equivalents 13 47,494 49,707
Total current assets 132,752 156,204
Liabilities
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables 14 (3,538) (4,983)
Contract liabilities 2 (10,682) (7,469)
Other current liabilities 15 (6,825) (6,301)
Derivative financial instruments 16 ꟷ (99)
Lease liabilities 17 (731) (694)
Provisions 18 (441) (647)
Total current liabilities (22,217) (20,193)
Net current assets 110,535 136,011
Non-current liabilities
Lease liabilities 17 (1,492) (1,902)
Other non-current liabilities 15 (1,221) (1,360)
Provisions 19 (2,340) (2,282)
Total non-current liabilities (5,053) (5,544)
Net assets 153,833 180,635
Equity attributable to the owners of the parent
Share capital 19 19,370 19,297
Share premium 406,650 406,184
Capital redemption reserve 3,449 3,449
Merger reserve 7,463 7,463
Accumulated losses (283,099) (255,758)
Total equity 153,833 180,635
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial
statements.
CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT
For the year ended 31 December 2024
Note
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
£'000 £'000
Cash flows from operating activities
Loss before taxation (25,872) (53,609)
Adjustments for:
Finance income (5,807) (7,079)
Finance expense 362 1,287
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 7,472 7,461
Depreciation of right-of-use assets 710 641
Amortisation of intangible assets 1,374 1,024
Net foreign exchange loss/(gains) 79 (232)
Net change in fair value of financial instruments (99) 143
Share-based payments charge 964 67
Operating cash flows before movements in working capital (20,817) (50,297)
(Increase)/decrease in trade and other receivables (8,757) 6,356
Decrease in inventories 69 2,889
(Decrease)/increase in trade and other payables (1,809) 1,847
Increase in contract assets (6,633) (1,175)
Increase in contract liabilities 3,213 106
Decrease in provisions (188) (536)
Net cash used in operations (34,790) (40,810)
Taxation (paid)/received (1,019) 6,911
Net cash used in operating activities (35,941) (33,899)
Investing activities
Proceeds received on disposal of property, plant and equipment ꟷ 225
Purchase of property, plant and equipment (4,449) (7,922)
Capitalised development expenditure (2,294) (6,800)
Decrease in short-term investments 32,537 21,168
Finance income received 8,469 5,616
Net cash used in investing activities 34,263 12,287
Financing activities
Proceeds from issuance of ordinary shares 539 809
Repayment of lease liabilities (774) (658)
Interest paid (243) (393)
Net cash generated from/(used by) financing activities (478) (242)
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents (2,156) (21,854)
Exchange loss on cash and cash equivalents (57) (223)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 49,707 71,784
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 13 47,494 49,707
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial
statements.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY
For the year ended 31 December 2024
Share Share Capital redemption reserve Merger Accumulated losses Total
capital premium reserve
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
At 1 January 2023 19,209 405,463 3,449 7,463 (201,817) 233,767
Comprehensive income
Loss for the financial year ꟷ ꟷ ꟷ ꟷ (54,008) (54,008)
Total comprehensive loss ꟷ ꟷ ꟷ ꟷ (54,008) (54,008)
Transactions with owners
Issue of shares, net of costs 88 721 ꟷ ꟷ ꟷ 809
Share-based payments charge ꟷ ꟷ ꟷ ꟷ 67 67
Total transactions with owners 88 721 ꟷ ꟷ 67 876
At 31 December 2023 19,297 406,184 3,449 7,463 (255,758) 180,635
Comprehensive income
Loss for the financial period ꟷ ꟷ ꟷ ꟷ (28,305) (28,305)
Total comprehensive loss ꟷ ꟷ ꟷ ꟷ (28,305) (28,305)
Transactions with owners
Issue of shares 73 466 ꟷ ꟷ ꟷ 539
Share-based payments charge ꟷ ꟷ ꟷ ꟷ 964 964
Total transactions with owners 73 466 ꟷ ꟷ 964 1,503
At 31 December 2024 19,370 406,650 3,449 7,463 (283,099) 153,833
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial
statements.
1. Basis of preparation
The financial information presented in this final results announcement has
been prepared in accordance with the recognition and measurement requirements
of UK adopted international accounting standards ("IFRS") as issued by the
International Accounting Standards Board ("IASB"). The principal accounting
policies adopted in the preparation of the financial information in this
announcement are unchanged from those used in the company's statutory
financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024. Whilst the financial
information included in this announcement has been computed in accordance with
the recognition and measurement requirements of IFRS, this announcement does
not itself contain sufficient disclosures to comply with IFRS.
The financial information contained in this final results statement does not
constitute statutory financial statements as defined by in Section 434 of the
Companies Act 2006. The financial information has been extracted from the
financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024 which have been
approved by the Board of Directors, and the comparative figures for the year
ended 31 December 2023 are based on the financial statements for that year.
The financial statements for 2023 have been delivered to the Registrar of
Companies and the 2024 financial statements will be delivered after the Annual
General Meeting on 15 May 2025. The Auditor has reported on both sets of
accounts without qualification, did not draw attention to any matters by way
of emphasis without qualifying their report, and did not contain a statement
under Section 498(2) or 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006. The Directors
confirm that, to the best of their knowledge, this condensed set of
consolidated financial statements has been prepared in accordance with the LSE
Rules.
Going Concern
The Group has reported a loss after tax for the year ended 31 December 2024 of
£28.3 million (2023: £54.0 million) and net cash used in operating
activities of £35.9 million (2023: £33.9 million). At 31 December 2024, the
Group held cash and cash equivalents and investments of £102.5 million (31
December 2023: £140.0 million).
The Directors have prepared monthly budgets and cash flow projections that
extend up to 31 December 2026. The forecast operating cash will be lower in
2025 compared to 2024 following the Group's restructuring. Future projections
include management's expectations of the further investment in R&D
projects, new product development and capital investment as the Group sustains
its competitive advantage in licensing fuel cell and electrolysis
technologies. Within these projections the Group has considered the
termination by Bosch which does not adversely impact the going concern
assessment. Future cash inflows reflects management's expectations of revenue
from existing and new licensee partners in both the power and green hydrogen
markets.
The projections were stress tested by applying different scenarios in line
with the Group's viability scenarios including a slower intake of future
licensee partners leading to a loss of significant future revenue and a
resulting cost mitigation. In each case the projections demonstrated that the
Group is expected to have sufficient cash reserves to meet its liabilities as
they fall due and to continue as a going concern for at least a period of 12
months. For the above reasons, the Directors continue to adopt the going
concern basis in preparing the consolidated financial statements.
Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty
In the application of the Group's accounting policies, management is required
to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amounts of
assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources.
In preparing the consolidated financial statements, the areas where judgement
has been exercised remain consistent with those applied to the annual report
and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023.
2. Revenue
The Group's revenue is disaggregated by geographical market, major
product/service lines, and timing of revenue recognition:
Geographical market
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
£'000 £'000
Europe 8,689 12,394
Asia 43,064 9,589
North America 138 341
51,891 22,324
For the year ended 31 December 2024, the Group has identified three major
customers (defined as customers that individually contributed more than 10% of
the Group's total revenue) that accounted for approximately 44%, 26% and 13%
of the Group's total revenue recognised in the year (year ended 31 December
2023: two customers that accounted for approximately 51% and 36% of the
Group's total revenue for that year).
Major product/service lines
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
Restated(1)
£'000 £'000
Provision of technology hardware 6,938 5,726
Engineering services and licences(1) 44,953 16,598
51,891 22,324
(1)Following changes to how information is presented to the Chief Operating
Decisions Makers (CODM), in 2024 revenue from engineering services and
licences is no longer disaggregated. The Group has restated the presentation
of major product/service lines for the year ended 31 December 2023.
Timing of transfer of goods and services
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
£'000 £'000
Products and services transferred at a point in time 33,030 6,544
Products and services transferred over time 18,861 15,780
51,891 22,324
The contract-related assets and liabilities are as follows:
31 December 2024 31 December 2023 1 January
2023
£'000 £'000 £'000
Trade receivables 11 9,872 3,422 11,825
Contract assets - accrued income 7,333 1,575 400
Contract assets - deferred contract costs 875 ꟷ ꟷ
Total contract related assets 18,080 4,997 12,225
Contract liabilities - deferred income (10,682) (7,469) (7,363)
3. Operating costs
Operating costs can be analysed as follows:
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
£'000 £'000
Research and development costs 48,531 54,034
Administrative expenses 18,014 17,681
Commercial 7,782 4,905
74,327 76,620
4. Finance income and expenses
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
£'000 £'000
Interest income on cash, cash equivalents and investments 5,807 7,079
Finance income 5,807 7,079
Interest paid ꟷ (99)
Interest on lease liability (243) (248)
Unwinding of discount on provisions (40) (89)
Other finance costs ꟷ (46)
Foreign exchange loss on cash, cash equivalents and short-term deposits (79) (805)
Interest expense (362) (1,287)
5. Taxation
A tax charge has arisen as a result of expenditure surrendered and claimed
under the SME R&D regime in the prior year and foreign tax and withholding
tax arising on licence income received from customers based in China, South
Korea and Taiwan.
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
£'000 £'000
UK corporation tax ꟷ ꟷ
Foreign tax suffered 2,445 334
Adjustment in respect of prior periods (12) 65
2,433 399
6. Loss per share
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
£'000 £'000
Loss for the financial period attributable to shareholders (28,305) (54,008)
Weighted average number of shares in issue 193,321,401 192,651,782
Loss per £0.10 ordinary share (basic and diluted) (14.64)p (28.03)p
7. Property, plant and equipment
Leasehold improvements Assets under construction
£'000 Plant and machinery Computer equipment Fixtures and fittings £'000
£'000
£'000
£'000 Total
£'000
Cost
At 1 January 2023 7,134 26,229 1,935 276 7,080 42,654
Additions 1,318 3,647 164 115 1,937 7,181
Transfers 511 2,009 ꟷ ꟷ (2,520) ꟷ
Disposal (150) (568) (57) ꟷ (68) (843)
At 31 December 2023 8,813 31,317 2,042 391 6,429 48,992
Additions 554 2,786 29 ꟷ 1,805 5,174
Transfers 32 2,357 ꟷ ꟷ (2,389) ꟷ
Disposals (215) (195) (102) (6) ꟷ (518)
At 31 December 2024 9,184 36,265 1,969 385 5,845 53,648
Accumulated depreciation
At 1 January 2023 2,730 11,901 1,403 233 ꟷ 16,267
Charge for the year 1,264 5,783 379 35 ꟷ 7,461
Depreciation on disposals (150) (411) (57) ꟷ ꟷ (618)
At 31 December 2023 3,844 17,273 1,725 268 ꟷ 23,110
Charge for the year 1,564 5,635 224 49 ꟷ 7,472
Depreciation on disposals (215) (195) (102) (6) ꟷ (518)
At 31 December 2024 5,193 22,713 1,847 311 ꟷ 30,064
Net book value
At 31 December 2024 3,991 13,552 122 74 5,845 23,584
At 31 December 2023 4,969 14,044 317 123 6,429 25,882
At 1 January 2023 4,404 14,328 532 43 7,080 26,387
'Assets under construction' represents the cost of purchasing, constructing
and installing property, plant and equipment ahead of their productive use.
The category is temporary, pending completion of the assets and their transfer
to the appropriate and permanent category of property, plant and equipment. As
such, no depreciation is charged on assets under construction.
Assets under construction primarily comprise plant and machinery and leasehold
improvements related to the Group's manufacturing and testing facilities.
8. Right of use assets
Land and Buildings Computer equipment Electric Total
vehicles
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Cost
At 1 January 2023 4,523 43 ꟷ 4,566
Additions 168 ꟷ ꟷ 168
Adjustment to lease term (33) ꟷ ꟷ (33)
At 31 December 2023 4,658 43 ꟷ 4,701
Additions ꟷ ꟷ 290 290
Disposals ꟷ ꟷ (38) (38)
Adjustment to contracted rent 145 ꟷ ꟷ 145
At 31 December 2024 4,803 43 252 5,098
Accumulated depreciation
At 1 January 2023 1,895 24 ꟷ 1,919
Charge for the year 627 14 ꟷ 641
At 31 December 2023 2,522 38 ꟷ 2,560
Charge for the year 648 5 57 710
Disposals ꟷ ꟷ (6) (6)
At 31 December 2024 3,170 43 51 3,264
Net book value
At 31 December 2024 1,633 ꟷ 201 1,834
At 31 December 2023 2,136 5 ꟷ 2,141
At 1 January 2023 2,628 19 ꟷ 2,647
The lease liabilities are detailed in Note 17.
9. Intangible assets
Internal developments in relation to manufacturing site Internal development programmes Patent costs
£'000
£'000 £'000 Perpetual Total
software £'000
licences
£'000
Cost
At 1 January 2023 411 13,747 525 852 15,535
Additions ꟷ 6,443 ꟷ 357 6,800
At 31 December 2023 411 20,190 525 1,209 22,335
Additions ꟷ 2,010 ꟷ 284 2,294
At 31 December 2024 411 22,200 525 1,493 24,629
Accumulated amortisation
At 1 January 2023 246 1,786 148 77 2,257
Charge for the year 82 728 137 77 1,024
At 31 December 2023 328 2,514 285 154 3,281
Charge for the year 83 1,019 124 148 1,374
At 31 December 2024 411 3,533 409 302 4,655
Net book value
At 31 December 2024 ꟷ 18,667 116 1,191 19,974
At 31 December 2023 83 17,676 240 1,055 19,054
At 1 January 2023 165 11,961 377 775 13,278
he internal development intangible relates to the design, development and
configuration of the Group's core solid oxide cell and system technology.
Amortisation of capitalised development commences once the developed
technology is complete and is available for use. The net book value of
internal development programmes that are not available for use at 31 December
2024 are £812,000 (2023: £16,376,000). The significant decrease from 2023 is
due to the 640 programme meeting the criteria for cessation of capitalisation
in line with IAS 38. Amortisation of the 640 programme commenced in 2024.
10. Inventories
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
£'000 £'000
Raw materials 1,621 1,648
Work in progress 759 787
Finished goods 376 390
Total inventory 2,756 2,825
Inventories have reduced which reflects the stacks shipped to customers and
the use of stacks for internal R&D projects, particularly the SOEC
demonstrator.
11. Trade and other receivables
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
Current: £'000 £'000
Trade receivables 9,872 3,422
VAT receivable 1,120 2,273
RDEC receivable 6,790 4,008
Other receivables 103 172
17,885 9,876
Non-current:
Other receivables 741 741
The RDEC receivable is a receivable from the UK Government for the Group's
2023 and 2024 RDEC claim. Of the amount outstanding as at 31 December 2024,
£3,486,000 was received in January 2025.
12. Other current assets
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
£'000 £'000
Prepayments 1,430 1,193
1,430 1,193
13. Net cash and cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
£'000 £'000
Cash at bank and in hand 10,338 7,063
Money market funds 37,156 42,644
Cash and cash equivalents 47,494 49,707
Short-term investments 54,971 90,249
Cash and cash equivalents and investments 102,465 139,956
( )
The Group typically places surplus funds into pooled money market funds with
same day access and bank deposits with durations of up to 24 months. The
Group's treasury policy restricts investments in short-term sterling money
market funds to those which carry short-term credit ratings of at least two of
AAAm (Standard & Poor's), Aaa-mf (Moody's) and AAAmmf (Fitch) and deposits
with banks with minimum long-term rating of A-/A3/A and short-term rating of
A-2/P-2/F-1 for banks which the UK Government holds less than 10% ordinary
equity.
14. Trade and other payables
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
Current: £'000 £'000
Trade payables 2,007 3,624
Other payables 1,531 1,359
3,583 4,983
15. Other current liabilities
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
£'000 £'000
Current:
Accruals 6,581 5,933
Deferred income 244 368
6,825 6,301
Non-current:
Deferred income 1,221 1,360
Deferred income consists of grant income and RDEC tax credits deferred in
relation to associated development costs which have been capitalised as an
intangible asset. Grant income is recognised in the Consolidated Statement of
Profit and Loss in the same period as the expenditure to which the grant
relates.
16. Derivative financial instruments
Fair value Carrying amount Fair value Carrying amount Fair value
hierarchy 31 December 2024 31 December 2024 31 December 2023 31 December 2023
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Financial assets measured at fair value through profit or loss
Forward exchange contracts Level 2 8 8 1 1
Currency swap contract Level 2 ꟷ ꟷ 7 7
Total derivative assets 8 8 8 8
Financial liabilities measured at fair value through profit or loss
Forward exchange contracts Level 2 ꟷ ꟷ (99) (99)
Total derivative liabilities ꟷ ꟷ (99) (99)
17. Lease liabilities
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
£'000 £'000
At the start of the period 2,596 3,124
New finance leases recognised 290 66
Lease payments (1,017) (906)
Interest expense 243 248
Adjustment to lease term 111 64
At the end of the period 2,223 2,596
Current 731 694
Non-current 1,492 1,902
Total at the end of the period 2,223 2,596
18. Provisions
Property Dilapidations Total
Warranties Contract Losses
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
At 1 January 2023 2,105 875 54 3,034
Movements in the Consolidated Statement of Profit and Loss:
Unused amounts reversed ꟷ (553) (10) (563)
Unwinding of discount 89 ꟷ ꟷ 89
Increase in provision(1) 88 281 ꟷ 369
At 31 December 2023 2,282 603 44 2,929
Movements in the Consolidated Statement of Profit and Loss:
Unused amounts reversed ꟷ (206) ꟷ (206)
Unwinding of discount 40 ꟷ ꟷ 40
Increase in provision 18 ꟷ ꟷ 18
At 31 December 2024 2,340 397 44 2,781
Current ꟷ 397 44 441
Non-current 2,340 ꟷ ꟷ 2,340
At 31 December 2024 2,340 397 44 2,781
Current ꟷ 603 44 647
Non-current 2,282 ꟷ ꟷ 2,282
At 31 December 2023 2,282 603 44 2,929
19. Share capital
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
Number of £0.10 £'000 Number of £0.10
Ordinary
Ordinary
shares
shares £'000
Allotted and fully paid
At 1 January 192,968,096 19,297 192,086,775 19,209
Allotted £0.10 Ordinary shares on exercise of employee share options 731,284 73 881,321 88
At 31 December 193,699,380 19,370 192,968,096 19,297
During the year ended 31 December 2023, 731,284 ordinary £0.10 shares were
allotted for cash consideration of £538,913 on the exercise of employee share
options (31 December 2023: 881,321 ordinary £0.10 shares were allotted for
cash consideration of £799,684).
Reserves
The Consolidated Statement of Financial Position includes a merger reserve and
a capital redemption reserve. The merger reserve represents a reserve arising
on consolidation using book value accounting for the acquisition of Ceres
Power Limited at 1 July 2004. The reserve represents the difference between
the book value and the nominal value of the shares issued by the Company to
acquire Ceres Power Limited. The capital redemption reserve was created in the
year ended 30 June 2014 when 86,215,662 deferred ordinary shares of £0.04
each were cancelled.
20. Events after the balance sheet date
In February 2025, Bosch took the strategic decision to cease its development
on SOFC cell and stacks for manufacture. Bosch stated that this decision is
part of broader revised strategic direction and does not reflect Bosch's
confidence in Ceres or our technology. Clearly we are disappointed that Bosch
will discontinue its SOFC operations, but the impact on revenues will only be
in the low single digit millions of euros for 2025.
21. Capital commitments
Capital expenditure that has been contracted for but has not been provided for
in the consolidated financial statements amounts to £725,000 as at 31
December 2024 (31 December 2023: £5,671,000). The reduction reflects the
progress made during the year with the Group's planned test expansion and the
successful implementation of the second generation platform and associated
assets. £2,600,000 worth of commitments have been removed as work is no
longer expected to be completed.
22. Related party transactions
As at 31 December 2024 the Group's related parties were its Directors and RFC
Power Ltd. Major shareholders have been considered in the Director's Report
and it was concluded that they do not meet the definition of a related party
in line with IAS 24 'Related Party Disclosures'.
During the year ended 31 December 2024 one Director exercised 380,424 share
options under the Ceres Power Holdings plc 2004 Employees' Share Option
Scheme. The Director sold 282,077 shares and retained 98,347 shares.
During the year ended 31 December 2023 two Directors sold 141,313 2004
Employee Shareholder Status (ESS) shares in Ceres Power Intermediate Holdings
Ltd and received 92,864 Ceres Power Holdings plc shares in consideration in
addition to the linked ESS options.
Transactions between the Group and RFC Power Ltd, being an associated entity
of the Group, comprised engineering consultancy services provided by the Group
to RFC Power for the value of £410,000 (31 December 2023: £574,000) in
return for equity share capital.
Reconciliation between operating loss and Adjusted EBITDA
Management believes that presenting Adjusted EBITDA loss allows for a more
direct comparison of the Group's performance against its peers and provides a
better understanding of the underlying performance of the Group by excluding
non-recurring, irregular and one-off costs. The Group currently defines
Adjusted EBITDA loss as the operating loss for the period excluding
depreciation and amortisation charges, share-based payment charges, unrealised
losses on forward contracts and exchange gains/losses.
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
£'000 £'000
Operating loss (31,317) (59,401)
Depreciation and amortisation 8,029 9,126
Share-based payment charges 964 67
Unrealised losses on forward contracts 136 143
Exchange gains (99) (232)
Adjusted EBITDA (22,287) (50,297)
Statement of Director's Responsibility
The responsibility statement below has been prepared in connection with the
annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024.
Certain parts thereof are not included within this Preliminary Announcement.
The Directors confirm that to the best of their knowledge:
· The financial statements, prepared in accordance with the
applicable set of accounting standards, give a true and fair view of the
assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Company and
the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole; and
· The strategic report, contained within the annual report and
financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024, includes a fair
review of the development and performance of the business and the position of
the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a
whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties
that they face.
The directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the
corporate and financial information included on the Ceres website at
https://www.ceres.tech
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