Intelligent Energy boss Henri Winand cheery in face of dismal numbers
Despite the company’s numbers showing a decidedly downward trend, Intelligent Energy chief executive Henri Winand remains very positive on the future of the business.
The energy technology firm yesterday posted its preliminary full-year results, the first Intelligent Energy has published since floating on the main market in July. They revealed a £7m decline in revenue to £13.6m, as well as an increased loss of £48.2m – the firm lost £21m in 2013. Its share price declined by 4.3 per cent yesterday.
In addition, the company’s market capitalisation has declined from around £630m at the time of the initial public offering (IPO) to £395m. However, Winand is unconcerned by these figures, attributing them to the ups and downs of life post-IPO.
“The executive team is focused on managing the business and not staring at the share price,” he comments. “Over time, these matters will right themselves.”
He adds that he is pleased with the past year’s performance, and tells City A.M.: “We have really transformed the business.”
Winand states: “We have three main divisions – the whole raison d’etre behind the IPO was to breathe life into two of those divisions.” He is referring to the Consumer Electronics (CE) and Distributed Power & Generation (DPG) segments of the company.
The third division is Motive, the longest-running part of the company and the primary source of revenue until this year. According to Winand, Intelligent Energy’s Motive arm is “the first fuel-cell company in the world to record profit”.
But the other two thirds of the company are beginning to catch up to Motive, says Winand, who explains that this is the reason for the increased losses recorded in 2014: “To launch new divisions you have to invest.”
DPG recorded its first revenues in April, going from “no revenues in January to around £50m on an annualised basis”. The division, which is focused mainly on telecom tower sites in India, was targetting 5,000 systems under management by the end of 2014, and is currently overseeing 10,000 such sites.
And CE recently began selling its hydrogen fuel-cell charger Upp in Apple stores throughout the UK. “To be able to launch your product in UK Apple stores is no small thing,” Winand says. “It’s a great brand to be associated with and we are confident that we will continue to see growth.”