Thyssenkrupp Nucera sees hydrogen market lull as temporary (updated)

thyssenkrupp nucera AG & Co KgaA

13/06/2024 09:21

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      Thyssenkrupp Nucera could double workforce within 3 years
    

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      Recent legislation should help support the market
    

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      Non-German markets in Europe, overseas also seen lucrative
    

  
 (Adds workforce expansion plans, details, background)
    By Tom Käckenhoff and Vera Eckert
       ESSEN, Germany, June 13 (Reuters) - Project delays in
the global market for hydrogen equipment are temporary,
Thyssenkrupp Nucera's  NCH2.DE  CEO Werner Ponikwar told
Reuters, adding that the German company could double its
workforce in the next three years.
    Thyssenkrupp Nucera, a major electrolysis plant supplier,
last month reported a 42% drop in order intake in January-March,
saying investors were holding back on finalising deals due to a
lack of regulatory certainty and problems securing financing as
banks want evidence that consumers will take future production
volumes.
        Ponikwar said he expected the downturn would not be
prolonged and the company was investing for growth, including
plans to expand its staff from around 900 currently to
1,500-2,000 within three years.
    "From today's perspective, we don't see this market taking a
break," Ponikwar said in an interview published on Thursday. The
company, majority held by Thyssenkrupp  TKAG.DE , has orders at
hand worth just under 1 billion euros ($1.08 billion).
    "We believe that the market will grow extremely strongly
over the next 10 or 20 years and we want to continue to play a
very, very important role there," he said on the sidelines of
the Handelsblatt hydrogen conference in Essen, Germany on
Wednesday.
        The company last month lowered its sales growth
forecasts for its 2023/24 fiscal year ending Sept. 30 and made a
core loss prediction for 2023/24 in a mid double-digit euros
range.
    However, it should benefit from the German government's
decision last month to accelerate hydrogen projects and remove
hurdles, and Ponikwar said related carbon capture and storage
(CCS) provisions for CO2 would help with the switch from
initially gas-based projects to feeding them with hydrogen.
    The company was also active in export markets other than
Germany.
        "The big projects in Europe today tend to take place in
the south of Europe, in Portugal and Spain," said Ponikwar, who
also mentioned pro-hydrogen legislation under the United States'
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as helpful.
        The company was predominately focused on EU and U.S.
markets first, and would look at regions such as Australia and
the Middle East later, he said.

       
  
        ($1 = 0.9256 euros)

 (Reporting by Tom Kaeckenhoff and Vera Eckert, editing by
Andrey Sychev and Susan Fenton)
 ((vera.eckert@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 2201 33654))