thyssenkrupp boss gives substance – Nucera IPO in preparation

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by Klaus Schachinger, Euro on Sunday

Es are likely to be intensive discussions at the Essen headquarters of the industrial and steel giant thyssenkrupp and at the Dortmund subsidiary Nucera these days about the timing of the subsidiary’s IPO, which is now planned for autumn. Especially since Paolo Dellach, head of the world’s leading electrode manufacturer Industrie de Nora, wants to wrap up his company’s IPO by the end of the month. The Milanese are partners of the hydrogen technology specialist thyssenkrupp Nucera and hold a third of the shares in the joint venture. “We can afford to carry out our plan despite what is happening around us. The company is doing well and we have the highest order intake in the company’s history, a clear sign that we are on a growth course,” said Dellach. Also Nucera driver Denis Krude and thyssenkrupp boss Martina Merz want to be on the floor with the Dortmund company in the fall.

Full Nucera order books

Nucera also reports a record order volume. Mainly due to two major orders, the order backlog for plants for the production of green hydrogen at the end of December 2021 was 900 million euros for the next few years. With the chlor-alkali area, it was a total of 1.3 billion euros. A few things may have been added over the past few months. Nucera then wants to redeem 900 million to one billion euros in a business year in 2026. In the 2020/21 financial year, it was 319 million euros in revenue and 27 million euros in operating profit (EBIT). The market for electrolysis, which is relevant for Nucera, is expected to grow to 40 billion euros worldwide in ten years.

Nucera has two business areas: chloralkali for the production of chlorine gas and caustic soda. Chlorine gas is used for plastics and to disinfect water. Caustic soda is used in industry. The second division is the technology for alkaline water electrolysis to produce hydrogen on an industrial scale using green electricity. The company, which employs around 400 people, is a large engineering office that commissions contract manufacturers to produce and the systems are operated by partners. For example in an exclusive cooperation with the US industrial gases company Air Products.

Nucera will provide the technology and service for the hydrogen plants operated by Air Products. The cell hall of a large plant has a capacity of around 100 megawatts.

It’s not just going well at Nucera, the order book for thyssenkrupp’s Marine Systems division is also full. The Kiel specialist for submarines even has to expand its capacities and is taking over the facilities of the MV Werften Group in Wismar on the Baltic Sea, which has been insolvent since January. The shipyard, where cruise ships were once launched, is now being extensively renovated.

thyssenkrupp presented a robust balance sheet for the second quarter in May and raised the forecast for operating profit (EBIT) to at least two from the previous 1.5 to 1.8 billion euros.

Billions for green steel

While the largest subsidiary, thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, is benefiting from the price trend for steel, it also has to invest heavily in the environmentally friendly conversion of production. Steel Europe boss Bernhard Osburg is urging the state aid for the conversion to be approved in the fall, without the money the conversion cannot be financed. Thyssenkrupp’s first plant for green steel is scheduled to start up in Duisburg in 2026. The costs are estimated at one billion euros.

Print: The share cannot escape the turbulence on the stock exchange. However, the supports at seven euros should stabilize the course.

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Image sources: thyssenkrupp AG