Plastic Omnium, a world-leading provider of mobility solutions, announces that it has been assigned a Long-Term Credit rating of BB+ from S&P, with a “Stable” outlook.
Strong 2023 performance
Outlook
« With record revenue of €11.4 billion in 2023, Plastic Omnium crossed the symbolic €10 billion mark, highlighting the Group’s solid operating performance. As our historical activities confirm their leadership, the hydrogen business continues to ramp up industrially and commercially and the lighting business has significantly improved its profitability while achieving major commercial successes. Our exceptional order book demonstrates the relevance of our technological offer for all types of mobility and the confidence of our customers. At the same time, the Group is transforming to support market growth by adapting its industrial facilities and pooling its functional resources in each of its key regions. I would like to pay tribute to the remarkable commitment of the teams who deploy our strategic roadmap daily and are working to reduce our CO2 emissions. CDP rewarded these efforts with the highest rating for our climate action. In a market expected to contract slightly in 2024, Plastic Omnium aims to improve its financial performance and continue deleveraging.»
Laurent Favre, Chief Executive Officer of Compagnie Plastic Omnium SE
Plastic Omnium and EKPO Fuel Cell Technologies, its joint venture with ElringKlinger, are exhibiting at H2 & FC EXPO in Tokyo from February 28 to March 1, 2024. The show, a major international event focused on hydrogen and fuel cells, is part of Smart Energy Week. Plastic Omnium will be showcasing its hydrogen and battery electrification solutions for decarbonizing heavy and commercial mobility (trucks, buses and commercial vehicles).
Plastic Omnium has achieved the highest score from the CDP for its climate action. The “A” score recognizes, in particular, Plastic Omnium’s ambitious roadmap, carbon neutrality objectives across its entire value chain, and the quality of its environmental reporting. The Group joins the A-list of the world’s best-performing companies out of more than 21,000 assessed by CDP in 2023.
Compagnie Plastic Omnium SE’s 2023 annual results will be presented during a Webcast on Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 9:00 am (Paris time).
The conference will be webcasted live through the below link:
https://channel.royalcast.com/landingpage/plastic-omnium-en/20240222_1/
If you wish to access the conference call, simply dial one of the following numbers:
Then provide the operator with the code: Plastic Omnium
Plastic Omnium, through its PO-Rein joint venture, is launching the construction of its highpressure hydrogen vessels mega-plant in Jiading, Shanghai. Scheduled to be operational in 2026, the new plant will produce annually up to 60,000 hydrogen vessels and high-pressure hydrogen storage systems for the Chinese commercial vehicle market.
Olivier Dabi is appointed Chief Financial Officer as of February 1st, 2024, and joins Plastic Omnium’s Executive Committee. He succeeds to Kathleen Wantz-O’Rourke, who is leaving the Group to pursue new professional endeavors. Under the direction of Laurent Favre, Plastic Omnium’s Chief Executive Officer, his main responsibilities will be to support the Group’s transformation and manage its financial performance. Investor relations and financial communication, managed by Stéphanie Laval, will now report to Plastic Omnium’s Chief Executive Officer.
Olivier Dabi has dedicated his career to internal audit and finance across France, the United States and Japan, at PWC from 1995 to 2006 and then at Valeo, before joining Plastic Omnium in 2014 as Group Finance Control Director. In 2020, he was appointed Vice-President Finance and Information Systems of the Intelligent Exterior Systems division.
Olivier is a graduate of the École supérieure de commerce de Paris (ESCP), is a chartered accountant in France and in the United States and holds an MBA from INSEAD.
Kathleen Wantz-O’Rourke joined Plastic Omnium in June 2021 as Chief Financial and Information Officer, and member of the Executive Committee.
Links to the press releases
Plastic Omnium presents its latest innovations for tomorrow’s mobility
Plastic Omnium wins CES Innovation Award 2024
Read our press kit
Stéphanie Laval, Director of Investor Relations
Xavier Le Tulzo, Investor Relations and Financial Communications Manager
Nelly Gimenez, Financial Communications Analyst
Jules MARTIN, Financial Communication Analyst
© Photo credit – Le Revenu
On December 7th, 2023, Plastic Omnium was awarded the Jury’s Special Prize for its shareholder relations within the SBF 120 (excluding CAC 40) by Le Revenu magazine. This distinction rewards listed companies for the quality of their relations with individual shareholders.
Plastic Omnium has been working with its individual shareholders for several years, deploying a strategy of support and information. 2023 was a particularly rich year, with a visit to the Herentals plant in Belgium on November 30th, 2023. Almost twenty individual shareholders came to discover the Group’s means of production for hydrogen storage systems, as well as energy storage and depollution systems.
The Group also demonstrated its commitment to reaching out to its stakeholders by participating in a meeting dedicated to individual shareholders on December 7th, 2023, in Paris, organized by F2iC (Fédération des Investisseurs Individuels et des Clubs d’investissement). Stéphanie Laval, Director of Investor Relations, presented Plastic Omnium’s strategy and technologies to over 200 participants who then had the opportunity to talk directly with the Group’s investor relations team.
Plastic Omnium organized a visit of an industrial site for its individual shareholders on November 30th, 2023.
Almost twenty individual shareholders had the opportunity to visit our Herentals site in Belgium to discover the Group’s means of production for hydrogen tank systems, as well as energy and depollution systems. The site produces more than 1 million fuel tanks per year and the annual production capacity of high-pressure hydrogen tanks reaches 10,000 tanks.
Opened in 1997, our Herentals site now employs nearly 200 people and has undergone numerous developments to become a state-of-the-art center for the development of hydrogen tanks. The first production line for high-pressure hydrogen tanks was set up in 2020.
This visit was also an opportunity to discover the means of energy production located on the Plastic Omnium site: solar panels installed since 2019 and a wind turbine since 2022 with annual productions of 1 GWh and 8 GWh respectively, allowing to cover more than 50% of the energy consumption of the Herentals site.
– Funding of up to EUR 177 million for EKPO granted by the federal and state governments as part of the European “IPCEI Hydrogen” program until 2027
– Funding to be used to expand the EKPO product portfolio within the high-performance segment by developing and industrializing a new generation of PEM fuel cell stack modules for heavy-duty applications
– Dr. Gernot Stellberger, Managing Director at EKPO Fuel Cell Technologies: “The funding provided will enable us to expand our product portfolio in the high-performance segment and evolve our business model.”
Dettingen/Erms (Germany), November 15, 2023 +++ Fuel cells represent a key technology when it comes to successfully shaping the transformation of the mobility sector. EKPO Fuel Cell Technologies (EKPO), a leading technology provider specializing in the development and large-scale production of fuel cell stacks for carbon-neutral mobility, has now received confirmation of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport that it is to be granted funding of up to EUR 177 million for the years up to and including 2027 as part of the European “IPCEI Hydrogen” (Important Project of Common European Interest) program. Funding will be provided by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport and the Ministry of the Environment of the state of Baden-Württemberg.
The EKPO project, aimed at developing and industrializing a new generation of high-performance PEM fuel cell stack modules for heavy-duty applications, had previously been selected by the German government. The high-performance stack modules are to be deployed primarily in the commercial vehicle sector, but also in buses and maritime applications, in the field of rail transportation, and in stationary systems. Alongside development, funding also covers preparations at a commercial level through to series production of the innovative fuel cell stacks.
Asked to comment, Dr. Gernot Stellberger, Managing Director at EKPO Fuel Cell Technologies, said: “The funding granted is to be seen as an important pillar for EKPO’s future development and will unlock new opportunities for us to significantly expand our product portfolio, particularly in the heavy-duty/high-performance segment, and to evolve our business model. This is underpinned by our already market-leading stack technology and our high level of expertise in the field of industrial-scale production.”
Implementing the IPCEI forms part of the federal government’s National Hydrogen Strategy, which is geared toward making hydrogen technology established in Germany within competitive structures. To this end, the federal government had selected 62 large-scale projects to be jointly funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport, and the respective federal states with a total budget of more than EUR 8 billion. The selected projects cover large parts of the value chain within the hydrogen market. EKPO is one of four German companies to have been granted approval in the so-called first wave of “IPCEI Hydrogen”.
The stack modules represent a new benchmark with regard to performance and power density and are targeted at the life cycle of heavy commercial vehicles. In order to commercialize the new stack modules, both processes and design have to be optimized in terms of costs and manufacturability. In addition, the plan is to significantly reduce the carbon footprint in production. Thus, the aim of the project includes successfully migrating fuel cell stacks to mass production with a stacking rate in the parts-per-second range, while meeting the highest quality standards.
IPCEI programs encompass strategic funding projects at a pan-European level that are aimed at establishing a European value chain in key economic sectors of relevance to the future. The hydrogen industry has been identified as one such key sector, of which hydrogen mobility forms a constituent part.
For further information, please contact on behalf of EKPO Fuel Cell Technologies:
ElringKlinger AG
Dr. Jens Winter
Vice President Strategic Communications
Phone: +49 7123 724-88335
E-Mail: press@ekpo-fuelcell.com
About EKPO Fuel Cell Technologies
EKPO Fuel Cell Technologies (EKPO), headquartered in Dettingen/Erms (Germany), is a leading joint venture in the development and large-scale production of fuel cell stacks for CO2-neutral mobility. The company is a full-service supplier for fuel cell stacks and components used in passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, trucks, buses, as well as in train and marine applications. Within this context, the company is building on the industrialization expertise of two established international automotive suppliers – ElringKlinger and Plastic Omnium.
The aim of the joint venture is to develop and mass-produce high-performance fuel cell stacks in order to further advance CO2-neutral mobility – whether on the road, rail, water or off-road.
Félicie Burelle, Managing Director of Plastic Omnium, has announced the winners of the 2023 Plastic Omnium Innovation Challenge at the annual ceremony held on November 14. The Plastic Omnium Innovation Challenge focuses on the future of energy to support the transformation of tomorrow’s mobility.
– “DECO” (Decentralized Energy Communities) project wins the Grand Prix for Innovation for its internet platform for exchanging and trading electricity locally between individuals and producers.
– The other successful teams in the Challenge are “Airport Hydrogenius” and “Solar Micromobility”, winning the Jury Special Award and Audience Award.
Christophe Marceau is appointed President and CEO of the Modules Division as of November 1st, 2023, and joins Plastic Omnium’s Executive Committee. He succeeds to Martin Schüler, who is leaving the Group. Christophe Marceau was previously President and CEO of the Western Europe Business Unit of Plastic Omnium’s Intelligent Exterior Systems Division.
The Modules Division was created from the HBPO joint venture between Plastic Omnium, Hella and Behr in 2004, in which Plastic Omnium acquired a 100% stake in 2022. A world leader, it supplies complex modules (front-end, cockpits, etc.) to automakers. The division is headquartered in Lippstadt.
Christophe Marceau, 55, a graduate engineer from the École d’application des hautes polymères in Strasbourg, joined Plastic Omnium in 1992, where he held various operational positions in both the technical and purchasing directions of the Intelligent Exterior Systems division, becoming Purchasing Director in 2007. In 2014, he was appointed Director of Sales and Programs for the IES division’s Western Europe Business Unit, before taking up the position of President and CEO of the same business unit in 2020.
– Economic revenue up +11.5% on Q3 2022
– Year-to-date economic revenue up +26.5% on the same period in 2022
– Organic growth of +6.5%, outperforming the market by +2.7 points
– Solid order intake momentum in all businesses confirming the relevance of our offer
– Adjustment of 2023 targets in a tense macroeconomic and market context
On October 11, 2023, in Detroit, Stellantis held the third edition of its event “Stellantis Suppliers of the Year” rewarding 16 suppliers among 40 nominees, for their commitment, performance, quality and operational excellence.
Plastic Omnium is the manufacturer’s only supplier to to be recognized twice with an Award in the category “Regional Supplier of the Year” (“Enlarged Europe” zone), and a second in the category “Global Supplier of the Year” for its Program Management.
Laurent Favre, CEO of Plastic Omnium, states “This recognition reflects the level of performance of Plastic Omnium teams, as well as the trust of Stellantis in our Group. Kudos to the teams dedicated to this major customer for their outstanding commitment to operational excellence”.