Leclanché concludes its Annual General Meeting
- Debt to equity conversion significantly strengthens balance sheet
- Major Stationary Solutions projects and solid e-Transport order pipeline provide critical scale putting Company on track towards profitability
- Christophe Manset joins the Board of Directors
YVERDON-LES-BAINS, Switzerland, June 30th, 2020 - Leclanché SA (SIX: LECN), one of the world's leading energy storage solutions companies, today announced that the Company's shareholders approved all but two of the proposals of the Board of Directors at its 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM) held today through a live webcast meeting due to the Covid-19 situation.
The debt to equity conversion of CHF 50.9 million of debt contracted with FEFAM[1], the Company's main shareholder, was approved by shareholders. This restructuring measure shall reduce the Company's debt level to CHF 15.3 million. The strengthened balance sheet should drive increased investment interest in the Company at this time of strong growth in Leclanché's order book in the fast-growing e-Transport sector.
The Board regrets that the resolutions to renew the period for exercising the authorized capital and increase the conditional capital to the maximum possible number of shares were not approved by the majority of shareholders. The Board notes that it still has approximately 76 million authorized shares available to be exercised until 8th May 2021 and approximately 43 million conditional shares. The Board will review the available options to ensure the availability of the growth capital needed.
The Board is pleased to announce that Mr. Christophe Manset has been elected to the Board of Directors.
Mr. Manset has more than 10 years of experience in the asset management industry in Luxembourg. As an associate at LEVeL with a focus on Alternative Investment Funds regulated by the Luxembourg supervisory authority, he brings to the Board of Directors of Leclanché proven experience in the financial field and in matters concerning investment funds. Mr. Manset serves as an advisor to the Luxembourg-based FEFAM, Leclanché's majority shareholder, which will enable the Company to further strengthen its relationship with FEFAM.
The Company provided an update of the Covid-19 situation which prevents it from providing any guidance for the year 2020. On an average, production capacity has been reduced by nearly 1/3 during the lock down period and nearly CHF 11 million business has been deferred.
Commercial breakthroughs
In his address to shareholders, Anil Srivastava, CEO of Leclanché, outlined the Company's progress in implementing the Growth Plan announced in 2015. In 2019, Leclanché achieved significant growth in many aspects of its business.
The e-Transport business is set to grow over 2019 by six to ten times in 2020 with an order book of CHF 90 million to be delivered in the years 2020 through 2022.
- Leclanché is recognized among the market leaders in marine electrification offering unique integrated on-board battery systems as well as charging infrastructure for the ports and harbours market.
- Leclanché's other fleet electric vehicle business is on a rapid growth trajectory fuelled by business revenues of more than € 100 million over the next five years with Bombardier Transportation. In fact, the Company is now well-positioned to address more than 40% of the train electrification market between the strategic partnership with Bombardier and its recent win of a new rail project with another major train provider.
- Furthermore, Mr. Srivastava reported significant momentum in the truck electrification market leveraging the Company's success with Toyota Motor North America as well as large opportunities for bus and truck fleet retrofitting.
Leclanché's Stationary Solutions business continued its growth with a cumulative 100 MWh of projects commissioned highlighted by the announcement of a Build-Own-Operate model for Energy-as-a-Service including the high-profile St. Kitts project.
Leclanché has been able to meet its growth targets thanks to the constant and steady support of all shareholders, in particular FEFAM, its major shareholder who converted CHF 103 million of debt into capital since May 2019.
Anil Srivastava, CEO of Leclanché, said: "In 2019, Leclanché has built a competitive organization on multiple fronts with commercial wins, project completions and improvements in our technology and cost structure. The 'new Leclanché' is well-positioned for accelerated growth and success in our markets - in no small part due to the hard work of our colleagues around the world, the patience of our shareholders and the support of business partners and investors.
The strategic reorganization underway shall set the Company on a clear path to deliver profitable growth thanks to the capital light structure through the Joint Venture with Eneris Group, reduced Operating Expenses, and reduced product costs with the launch of its industry leading 210 Wh per kg/8000 cycles* High Energy Density Cells."
*- at 80% depth of discharge.
For more information, write to info@leclanche.com or visit www.leclanche.com.
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About Leclanché
Headquartered in Switzerland, Leclanché SA is a leading provider of high-quality energy storage solutions designed to accelerate our progress towards a clean energy future. Leclanché's history and heritage is rooted in over 100 years of battery and energy storage innovation and the Company is a trusted provider of energy storage solutions globally. This coupled with the Company's culture of German engineering and Swiss precision and quality, continues to make Leclanché the partner of choice for both disruptors, established companies and governments who are pioneering positive changes in how energy is produced, distributed and consumed around the world. The energy transition is being driven primarily by changes in the management of our electricity networks and the electrification of transport, and these two end markets form the backbone of our strategy and business model. Leclanché is at the heart of the convergence of the electrification of transport and the changes in the distribution network. Leclanché is the only listed pure play energy storage company in the world, organised along three business units: stationary storage solutions, e-Transport solutions and specialty batteries systems. Leclanché is listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX: LECN).
SIX Swiss Exchange: ticker symbol LECN | ISIN CH 011 030 311 9
Disclaimer
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to Leclanché's business, which can be identified by terminology such as "strategic", "proposes", "to introduce", "will", "planned", "expected", "commitment", "expects", "set", "preparing", "plans", "estimates", "aims", "would", "potential", "awaiting", "estimated", "proposal", or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding the ramp up of Leclanché's production capacity, potential applications for existing products, or regarding potential future revenues from any such products, or potential future sales or earnings of Leclanché or any of its business units. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of Leclanché regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that Leclanché's products will achieve any particular revenue levels. Nor can there be any guarantee that Leclanché, or any of the business units, will achieve any particular financial results.
Contacts
[1] FEFAM means: AM INVESTMENT SCA, SICAV-SIF - Illiquid Assets Sub-Fund, together with FINEXIS EQUITY FUND - Renewable Energy Sub-Fund, FINEXIS EQUITY FUND - Multi Asset Strategy Sub-Fund, FINEXIS EQUITY FUND - E Money Strategies Sub-Fund (also called Energy Storage Invest) and, all these funds being in aggregate the main shareholder of Leclanché, hereunder referred to as "FEFAM".
