On Monday (August 28) the Group reported an increase in order intake to €242 million. This was around 13% more than in the prior-year period. Overall, new orders in the first nine months of the 2022/2023 reporting year amounted to around €535 million. This was slightly less than in the comparable period of 2021/2022 (€1,218 million), which was characterized in particular by the world's largest green hydrogen project to date in Saudi Arabia.
In the third quarter of 2023, meanwhile, Nucera's sales had almost doubled to €187 million compared to the same period last year (€99 million). The growth was primarily explained by the completion of major projects such as the GW plant in Saudi Arabia and a 200 MW plant for the Shell oil company in the port of Rotterdam, the company said.
Orders worth around €28 million were booked for industrial-scale alkaline water electrolysers. Demand for production capacities remains very high. One example is the order placed by the Swedish steel producer H2 Green Steel. Nucera is installing a capacity of over 700 MW for Europe's first 'green steel mill' in northern Sweden. In addition, H2 Green Steel has reserved further capacity in the triple-digit MW range for a project in North America.
Alkaline electrolysis key growth driver
For the first nine months of fiscal 2022/2023, the Dortmund-based company puts its sales at €493 million - an increase of around €79 million compared with the same period of the previous year. While sales in the chlor-alkali sector remained stable at €254 million (prior-year period: €250 million), sales in the alkaline water electrolysis sector increased almost tenfold to €240 million (prior-year period: €25 million). This was the first time that the target of €100 million had been exceeded in a single quarter.
Operating profit (earnings before interest and taxes, EBIT) amounted to €7 million in the third quarter, compared with €4 million in the corresponding period of the previous year. Overall, it also increased sharply by 77% to €20 million in the first nine months (prior-year period: €11 million). The main drivers of the earnings increase were improved sales in the alkaline water electrolysis sector and improvements in new business in the chlor-alkali sector. In addition, in addition to the absence of trademark license fees, lower expenses were incurred for the spin-off of thyssenkrupp Nucera in preparation for the IPO.
Positive outlook
The technology provider generated earnings of 6 million euros in the third quarter (prior-year period: 3 million euros). At 18 million euros, net profit for the first nine months exceeded the corresponding figure for the prior-year period (7 million euros) by 154%.
Earnings per share for the first nine months amounted to 0.18 euros, compared with 0.07 euros in the corresponding period of the previous year. The pace of growth is also having an impact on the number of employees: From September last year to June 2023, it increased from 489 to 628 people.
Continued strong sales growth is expected for the current fiscal year 2022/2023. This will be driven in particular by the execution of customer orders in the inventory.
