Ceres Power partnerships drive 'strong end' to year

Fuel cell developer Ceres Power Holdings on Thursday said it expected full-year revenue to “more than double” after it achieved two key milestones in its partnerships with Bosch and Weichai Power.

Full-year revenue and other operating income are expected to more than double to approximately £15m from £7m the year before, after its collaboration with Bosch triggered a second payment of €5m since being signed in August.

Meanwhile, a long-term strategic collaboration was finalised with Chinese engine firm Weichai earlier this week, including a £9m joint development agreement, up to £30m in stage payments under a license agreement and a further £28m equity investment which is due to complete shortly, with Weichai's total investment to amount to £48m for a 20% stake.

Following the investment, the AIM traded company expects to be in a strong cash position of “at least” £77m at the end of the first half of the year.

Phil Caldwell, chief executive of Ceres, said: "We've had a very strong end to 2018 which means we expect to more than double revenue this year. This is on the back of strong progress with our strategic partnerships with Weichai Power and Bosch where we have met stretching technology and performance targets which continue to give our partners the confidence in taking our technology forwards towards commercialisation."

A statement from the company said it is also progressing with other OEM partners on multi-year programmes and will provide further updates in due course.

Ceres Power’s shares were up 1.48% at 172.00p at 0917 GMT.