London listed Hydrogen One shows signs of recovery from tanking share price

By Nicholas Earl

A London-listed hydrogen fund has seen its share price show signs of recovery after posting bullish full year results, including a 21 per cent boost in net asset value.

Hydrogen One Capital Growth (Hydrogen One) is enjoying a 6.25 per cent boost on the London Stock Exchange, trading at 51p per share in this morning’s trading.

This follows the company’s brutal sojourn on the stock market amid a global downturn and a choppy investment climate late last year after former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ disastrous mini budget, which saw its share price plummet from 93.8p per share to 40.8p per share.

The company has also been rocked by inflation and higher energy prices which has made investments into the renewables sector more challenging.

Nevertheless, the fund significantly ramped up capital investment over the full year in 2022, with funds deployed since the inception of the strategy rising from £48.6m at the end of the year to £102.9m by last December.

Chairman Simon Hogan said: “The last year has been marked by dramatic changes in the macro environment, turbulent markets, the war in Ukraine, and the energy crisis.

“The energy crisis has resulted in extreme power price volatility, putting pressure on the economy, contributing to inflation and higher interest rates. The global downturn has also affected our planned capital raising during the second half of the year, having completed an equity raise of £21m in April 2022.”

Revenue generated by its private hydrogen assets during the year rose to £33m, while Hydrogen One raised net £21m of additional capital from both existing and new investors last April.

It also confirmed its pipeline of potential investments has climbed to over £500m in value, with a forecast delivery of 10-15 per cent average net asset value growth.

However, the company is still trading at a discount, which averaged 18.5 per cent last year.

Hydrogen One tempted by US opportunities

Hydrogen One was set up two years ago and managed to raise £107m at its first fundraiser in July 2021 and a further £20m at a follow-on event in early 2022.

It has made 10 investments in hydrogen companies in the UK and Europe from energy producers to equipment and small part manufacturers – spending around £110m in the process.

This includes completing its first £2m investment in Thierbach, a private hydrogen project, post year end.

Two of the companies it supports are producers, utilising electrolysers on site to produce green hydrogen.

The seven other companies manufacture engineered components such as electrolysers, fuel cells, pipes and are involved in the transportation of hydrogen.

This includes Sunfire, a German hydrogen equipment specialist which revealed to City A.M. earlier this month it would have to consider US opportunities if the EU did not match the Inflation Reduction Act.

Earlier this year, Hydrogen One’s co-founder and managing partner Richard Hulf told City A.M. the fund was also considering new possibilities Stateside.

He said: “We are turning our attention to the US, and we have got a number of initiatives going on around the Gulf of Mexico.

“There are some very large projects there, which are taking the very large coastline and setting up green hydrogen projects – with water and desalination coming from the from the Gulf itself, with large banks of electrolysers.”

Hydrogen One’s investment portfolio

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