Tritium electric vehicle charging station company loses $50m
An electric vehicle charging station company with global ambitions has tripled its losses, it’s been revealed.
The electric vehicle charging station company with global ambitions backed by coal and energy baron Trevor St Baker lost almost $50m this year, recently lodged documents reveal.
Tritium, which is rolling out its fast-charging stations for electric cars around the world, tripled its loss in 2019 to more than $47m from $15m in the previous 12 months, the latest financial accounts lodged with the corporate regulator show.
The loss came despite an almost doubling in revenue from $34m to $60m in a year, though Tritium has raised $88m from investors in the past 12 months and has ambitious plans to build on its network of more than 3000 fast-charging stations already installed around the world.
The Tritium Holdings 2019 financial report also says the company is forecasting a net cashflow-positive result in 2020, albeit as long as it improves the gross margins it makes from sales.
The report said the business was in negotiations with lenders to arrange additional funding options through third-party bonds. In early August, Tritium raised $30m from investors to value the business at $330m. Global giant Gilbarco Veeder-Root had previously injected $58m into the company for a 19.3 per cent stake.
Tritium also noted its revenue had on average doubled each year for the past five years and that its board was comfortable with its business strategy, which has included setting up a new assembly facility in Los Angeles and establishing its Tritium E-Mobility Innovation Centre in Amsterdam.
“2019 continued to be a high growth and investment phase for the business as the directors deliberately invested in product development and operational expansion of profitable products in order to have the capacity to deliver on future market demand,” the report said.
“The directors believe the company will maintain significant growth in future periods driven by new product releases and market growth, resulting in overall operating profits and positive cashflows as growing sales exceed cost base growth.”
Mr St Baker is a large investor in the company, which was established in Brisbane but has opened up manufacturing plants in Europe and the US in recent years.
The business has high hopes for the electric vehicle heartland of California and already has good market penetration in countries such as Norway, which has a high level of electric vehicle ownership among its population due to government subsidies and incentives.
Mr St Baker has a wide range of energy investments, having had his ASX-listed electricity operator ERM Power business taken over by Shell in a $617m transaction that was finalised in early December.
The Australian earlier this month also revealed Mr St Baker was spearheading an ambitious plan to keep Victoria’s Portland aluminium smelter operating. The smelter has been under the threat of closure since October, when owner Alcoa announced a review of its global portfolio targeting high-cost and high-carbon emission plants for closure.
Mr St Baker is a member of The List — Australia’s Richest 250, with an estimated $556m fortune. He owns the ageing Vales Point power station in NSW with Brian Flannery, having executed a remarkable turnaround in the asset’s financial performance since buying it from the NSW government for a token $1m in 2015.
The plant made a $96m net profit in 2019, the financial report for the private Sunset International showed.
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