LONDON (Alliance News) - Power technology company Intelligent Energy PLC said Monday that it has revised its focus on fuel cell technology, after almost doubling its loss in the most recent financial year.
Intelligent Energy booked a pretax loss of GBP64.6 million for its financial year ended September 30, widened from GBP54.4 million the prior financial year. However, the company's attributable loss, net of tax, almost doubled to GBP82.7 million from GBP42.8 million.
The widened loss was driven by the derecognition of a GBP21.9 million deferred tax asset, due to uncertainty on the magnitude and timing of future profit, said Intelligent Energy. Revenue for the financial year was GBP91.8 million, increased from GBP78.2 million year-on-year.
Shares in Intelligent Energy were down 16% at 10.73 pence Monday morning.
The company said that Martin Bloom, who stepped in as interim chief executive officer in June 2016, has now been made permanent CEO.
Intelligent Energy said that during the year it began restructuring, due to constrained funding and lower-than-expected commercial traction for some of its products. The company's operating business now focuses only on air-cooled fuel cell technology with power output between one watt and 20 watts.
Intelligent Energy generated the majority of its revenue, GBP85.1 million, from its Essential Energy division, which provides power management-related services for around 27,000 telecoms towers in India. However, the low margins of the business meant that earnings from this unit were negative once central costs were accounted for.
The company said it is continuing its discussions in relation to interim sub-contract arrangements for the Essential Energy segment.
The fuel cell technology segment generated GBP6.7 million in revenue during the financial year, but was also negative in terms of earnings.
Intelligent Energy reported GBP20.6 million in net cash at the end of the financial year and said its underlying cash burn is estimated at around GBP1.6 million a month. Therefore the company noted it will have to increase its revenue in the current financial year and reduce costs.
"As I outlined at the Analyst and Investor Day in September, we know we have the technology, people and know-how to deliver future growth for the core fuel cell business, so the next steps are all about commercialisation. My objective is to prioritise delivering revenues and building the business. The revised strategy is all about outcomes, especially commercial outcomes," said Martin Bloom, Intelligent Energy CEO.
By Adam Clark; adamclark@alliancenews.com
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