Nucera upholds FY forecast amid improved Q3 orders

German electrolyser maker Thyssenkrupp Nucera AG & Co KgaA (ETR:NCH2) on Tuesday reiterated its full-year sales and earnings forecast after its performance in its third fiscal quarter through June topped market expectations.

The company explained that the green hydrogen market in the third quarter of fiscal 2023/2024 suffered from prevailing uncertainty as final investment decisions (FIDs) for many projects could not be taken due to regulatory issues. Nevertheless, order intake in the trimester rose by 12% in annual terms to EUR 271.3 million (USD 296.7m) as orders in the alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) segment jumped to EUR 220.1 million from EUR 28.3 a year earlier. The significant growth came after Thyssenkrupp Nucera received the full notice to proceed with the delivery of 700 MW of electrolysis capacity for H2 Green Steel’s project to build the world’s first large-scale green steel plant in northern Sweden.

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In the meantime, order intake for chlor-alkali (CA) electrolysers dropped to EUR 51.1 million from EUR 214.1 million in the year-ago period, when OxyChem ordered equipment to support the conversion of a plant in Texas from the diaphragm to membrane CA technology.

At EUR 235.7 million, third-quarter sales were an all-time high for the company, improving by 26% year-on-year after both business segments lifted their contribution.

Thyssenkrupp Nucera’s order backlog at the end of June amounted to EUR 1.3 billion, of which EUR 900 million come from the AWE business.

After setting aside funds for the expansion of its AWE activities and spending more money on research and development (R&D), Thyssenkrupp Nucera saw its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) slump by 91% on the year to EUR 700,000. Net profit decreased to EUR 5.8 million from EUR 6.1 million.

Looking ahead, the company still expects its sales for the current financial year ending in September to range between EUR 820 million and EUR 900 million, while EBIT is seen in the negative mid-double-digit million euro range.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.093)