Johnson Matthey to build £80m gigafactory at Royston site

Sustainable technologies group Johnson Matthey will build an £80.0m gigafactory at its existing site in Royston as part of an effort to scale up the manufacturing of hydrogen fuel cell components.

Johnson Matthey said on Monday that the gigafactory will initially be capable of manufacturing three gigawatts of proton exchange membrane fuel cell components for hydrogen vehicles per annum and will be supported by the UK Government's Automotive Transformation Fund.

The FTSE 250-listed firm stated the investment will safeguard highly skilled manufacturing jobs in the UK and added that the site was expected to be in operation by the first half of 2024.

Johnson Matthey also highlighted that the Advanced Propulsion Centre forecasts that the UK will need 14 gigawatts of fuel cell stack production and 400,000 high-pressure carbon fibre tanks annually to meet local vehicle production demands by 2035, while the market expects that there could be as many as 3.0m fuel cell electric vehicles on the road globally by 2030.

Chief executive Liam Condon said: "Decarbonising freight transportation is critical to help societies and industries meet their ambitious net zero emission targets - fuel cells will be a crucial part of the energy transition. For more than two decades, JM has been at the forefront of fuel cell innovation.

"The fuel cell market has now reached a pivotal moment with the increasing urgency to decarbonise transportation and today marks the next step of the journey to a low-carbon future in the UK. We're delighted to be playing a key role in driving it forward."

As of 0815 BST, Johnson Matthey shares were up 0.10% at 2,071.97p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com