thyssenkrupp nucera, a leading provider of electrolysis technologies, returned to profitability in the 2024/2025 reporting year despite facing declining sales and challenging market conditions for green hydrogen. The company reported earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of approximately EUR 2 million, a significant improvement from the negative EUR 14 million recorded in the previous fiscal year, while sales reached EUR 845 million compared to EUR 862 million in 2023/2024.
The company's performance demonstrates the ongoing volatility in the emerging green hydrogen sector, which has significant implications for global clean energy transitions. While thyssenkrupp nucera maintained stable operations, the market for green hydrogen became increasingly challenging during the reporting period, with continued restraint in final investment decisions and a deteriorating global economic environment affecting project development.
The Green Hydrogen segment, which utilizes alkaline water electrolysis technology to produce climate-neutral hydrogen, showed improved financial performance despite lower sales. The segment achieved sales of EUR 459 million, down from EUR 524 million in the previous year, but significantly improved its EBIT to negative EUR 56 million from negative EUR 76 million. This improvement indicates progress in managing costs and operational efficiency despite market headwinds.
In contrast, the Chlor-Alkali segment demonstrated stronger performance with double-digit sales growth to EUR 386 million from EUR 338 million in the previous year. However, EBIT in this segment slightly declined to an estimated EUR 58 million from EUR 62 million. The divergent performance between segments highlights the different market dynamics affecting traditional industrial applications versus emerging green technologies.
Order intake declined substantially to EUR 348 million from EUR 636 million in the previous fiscal year, with the Green Hydrogen segment accounting for only EUR 26 million compared to EUR 356 million previously. The order backlog as of September 30, 2025, stood at EUR 0.6 billion, down from EUR 1.1 billion in the previous year. These figures reflect the challenging investment environment for large-scale green hydrogen projects globally.
Looking ahead, the company anticipates further challenges in the 2025/2026 fiscal year, forecasting consolidated sales between EUR 500 million and EUR 600 million and EBIT between negative EUR 30 million and break-even. The management has initiated measures to reduce the impact of lower sales on cost coverage and consolidated earnings. Detailed financial explanations can be found in thyssenkrupp nucera's 2023/2024 Annual Report on pages 53 to 54.
CEO Dr. Werner Ponikwar emphasized the company's proactive approach to navigating current market challenges, stating that thyssenkrupp nucera's strong market positioning and financial resilience will enable it to overcome current obstacles and continue pursuing strategic goals. The company's ability to maintain positive cash flow and self-finance operations provides crucial stability during this transitional period for the hydrogen industry.
The performance of thyssenkrupp nucera serves as an important indicator for the broader green hydrogen sector, which is critical for decarbonizing industrial processes and achieving climate targets. The company's experience reflects the broader challenges facing clean energy technologies as they scale from demonstration to commercial deployment, including investment uncertainty, regulatory frameworks, and market development timelines that affect the pace of energy transition worldwide.
