Thank you, Nadia, good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining this call at short notice. I know it's a busy morning for many of you. You should all have seen our announcement this morning that we have agreed a long-term strategic partnership with Plug Power in hydrogen technologies. Take you through the details of this, I'm very pleased to welcome our Chief Executive, Liam Condon, our Chief Financial Officer, Stephen Oxley, and Chief Executive of Hydrogen Technologies, Mark Wilson. We'll have a short presentation followed by plenty of opportunity for Q&A. Ahead of the presentation, though, I point you to our cautionary statement. With that, I'll hand over to Liam Condon, Chief Executive.
Thanks, Martin, and good morning, everyone. I'm really excited to be talking to you this morning to give you an update on one of our key strategic milestones. Back in May last year, we said that one of our milestones was winning at least two large-scale strategic partnerships in hydrogen technologies, and that we want to win with the winners. As you have seen, we've agreed a long-term strategic partnership with Plug Power, one of the world leaders in hydrogen. This is a game-changing deal as we scale our hydrogen technologies business. We're supporting Plug in accelerating the deployment of fuel cells and electrolyzers. At a high level, the partnership includes a supply and joint development agreement to at least 2030. This covers supply of existing products from 2023 and future generations of technology for both fuel cells and electrolyzers.
To meet Plug's demand, we're co-investing in a new manufacturing plant in the U.S. with capacity of 5 GW initially scaling to 10 GW over time. This deal underpins our targeted sales in Hydrogen Technologies of GBP 200 million by 2024-2025, and an acceleration beyond this. Today, we'll explain the partnership and its strategic significance. I won't go into all of the financial details for one agreement, but we'll update you more fully for the whole of our Hydrogen Technologies business in May with our full-year results. Before I get into the details, let me first set the scene. You may recall this slide from our results presentation in November, and it's a really important point. The growth markets we talked about as part of our strategy update last year are coming at us faster than we originally expected.
Specifically in the U.S., the Inflation Reduction Act is a game-changer for the hydrogen industry. It's driving investment and demand, and you're now seeing a concrete example, albeit very early, of how important this act is in accelerating demand. Momentum is building. The energy crisis in Europe is also driving demand for sustainable technology solutions, including electrolyzers for power generation. As the world's decarbonization journey accelerates, global demand for clean hydrogen is expected to grow more than 100-fold in the 10 years to 2030. We're pleased to be working together with Plug, a world leader in hydrogen, to meet the growing demand in this market. The hydrogen economy is a term used a lot, so it might be worth explaining briefly the different parts of it and how they all fit together from production to end uses.
You can see in the center of this slide where JM plays. We are involved in the production of hydrogen and its use in fuel cells. We help produce electrolytic or so-called green hydrogen from renewable energy sources. We can also help produce low-carbon hydrogen or so-called blue hydrogen. We're also involved in the use of hydrogen powered vehicles with fuel cells. I'll come back to what exactly we do in these areas, but in each of them, we are decarbonizing and catalyzing the net zero transition. Once hydrogen is produced, it can be used in many different applications instead of fossil based energy sources. It can be thought of as replacing oil. You can see on the right of the slide, it can be used for blending into household use, to power generation, and hydrogen fueling stations on the right side of the slide.
On the left, you can see how hydrogen can be converted into different fuels for shipping or stored to provide energy when needed, when renewable energy sources cannot provide enough, when the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow. You can see how this is a truly integrated chain, and we are at the heart of it, accelerating the hydrogen economy and decarbonization through our unique technology. Now before I get into the detail of the partnership, let me show you the value chain, as this is important in understanding why the combination of JM and Plug is so strong and will create a lot of value. JM is the number one supplier and recycler of platinum group metals, the critical materials needed in fuel cell and electrolyzer components. This is one of our core competencies.
As we do across JM, we play in the complex and valuable part of the value chain. The key component which defines the performance of a fuel cell or an electrolyzer is the catalyst-coated membrane or CCM. Our clever chemistry and expertise in PGMs, developed over 200 years, enables us to optimize the performance of the membrane and also the catalyst layers. It's the interactions between these components that really determines performance of the fuel cell or electrolyzer. That's where our capabilities are. Plug is a leading provider of turnkey hydrogen solutions for the global green hydrogen economy. They will take our CCMs, which are combined in a stack, and this then powers the end application. These are across the wide variety of applications already mentioned. Importantly, at end of life, we intend to provide closed-loop recycling.
Whilst the value chain is still nascent. Partnership allows JM and Plug to focus on their specific areas of expertise, which will accelerate deployment of Plug's next generation products and the development of the market. Plug is an existing customer of ours, and we've had many discussions with their CEO, Andy Marsh, and his team over recent months. We share very similar aspirations. Plug is to build a clean hydrogen economy and ours is to catalyze the net zero transition. I'm excited about building on our relationship and collaborating further to accelerate growth. We already have an established hydrogen business. We have over 20 years experience in fuel cells, and we are well along the experience curve. We're a strong partner for Plug with our expertise in PGM chemistry and catalysis, our ability to supply, manage, and recycle PGMs and existing manufacturing.
Plug is a world leader in hydrogen and building an end-to-end green hydrogen ecosystem. Some of their key customers include Amazon, Walmart, Carrefour, and BMW. They have really ambitious sales targets, the quadrupling of sales between 2026 and 2030 to $20 billion. When I talked about strategic partnerships in hydrogen technologies, Plug is exactly the type of organization that we want to be working with. We both want to win with the winners. It's about identifying world-class partners who can strongly complement each other and together develop a market-leading offering. This partnership is about growing together, leveraging our areas of expertise and accelerating growth. Let me get into the detail of the agreement. JM will be a lead supplier to Plug of membrane electrode assembly components, including catalyst-coated membranes, catalysts, and membranes for fuel cells and electrolyzers.
We'll be supplying a substantial portion of Plug's demand. This is really a significant development, particularly given Plug's ambitions and the strong market growth expected. We've agreed a supply and joint development agreement to at least 2030. This includes supply of MEA products from existing facilities in the U.K. from 2023. This essentially formalizes and extends an existing relationship with Plug. We'll also be supplying future generations of CCMs from the new U.S. plant. Plug will take these CCMs and then produce the MEAs. We will also work with Plug to fast-track product development, delivering components with significantly improved performance, durability, and cost compared to today's technology. This is a critical part of the collaboration. To scale quickly, we need to stay ahead on technology as well as cost.
Of course, Plug values us for our expertise in PGMs, our ability to be a reliable supply chain partner for those critical raw materials, particularly platinum and iridium. Our goal is to provide a closed-loop solution as we aim to create a sustainable ecosystem. As I'll talk in more detail on the next slide, we're co-investing in new manufacturing capacity in the U.S. Importantly, this capacity is customer-backed. Plug has committed to minimum quantities of product from JM. Together with Plug, we're building a dedicated manufacturing capacity in the U.S., which will supply Plug's gigafactory in Rochester. This new plant will initially have 5 GW capacity scaling to 10 GW over time. We expect production to start in 2025.
If you include our existing capacity of 2 GW today and also our planned 3 GW expansion in Royston in the U.K., our total hydrogen technologies capacity will be scaling to around 15 GW by 2025 and beyond. The key thing with this capacity expansion is that we're not doing this alone. It's in partnership with Plug. This is an approach that diversifies and reduces risk. Plug will be responsible for construction of the building and related site services, and we will provide and operate the equipment. Importantly, this investment into the new plant is broadly included within our existing group CapEx guidance of GBP 1 billion to 2024, 2025. You've heard the JM perspective on this deal and how excited we are about collaborating with Plug.
I now want to share with you a very short video from Plug's CEO, Andy Marsh, to give their perspective.
Hi, I'm Andy Marsh. I'm the CEO of Plug. Plug is building out a complete hydrogen ecosystem. I believe partnerships will allow this industry to grow rapidly, bring together the core strengths of both companies. That's why we partner with Johnson Matthey, as we've done with others like Renault in Europe for our JV HYVIA, with SK, with our JV Hyverse in South Korea. Here, bringing Johnson Matthey's core capabilities in PEM design and manufacturing, coupled with Plug's capabilities in that area, as well as fuel cell systems, will really allow this industry to continue to grow. Plug doesn't do anything for the short term.
Johnson Matthey and Plug, two of the leaders in the fuel cell industry, are joining together in this partnership to accelerate the industry's growth. As well as the unique capability that Johnson Matthey brings to the table, which no one else has, is their access to precious metals, and more important, their ability to recycle precious metals. I couldn't be more thrilled to be partnering with Johnson Matthey and my friend, Liam, to really help grow and accelerate this industry.
Now you've heard from Andy at Plug and how excited they are about this partnership too. It has tremendous benefits for both Plug and JM. With Plug, we have a partner who is selling stacks to the customer. This opens up a range of end markets to us. It gives us access to greater commercial strength, bringing us closer to the final customer. These benefits reach beyond the partnership itself. Plug is more advanced than many others in developing partnerships throughout the hydrogen value chain. There are other companies who may be earlier in this journey who are doing a lot of things themselves, but there are benefits of having partners specializing in their own areas of expertise. This is exactly what this partnership demonstrates. Two leading players working together to accelerate growth and expand into new markets.
To conclude, I'm incredibly excited that JM is the technology partner of choice for Plug. Two leaders in hydrogen partnering to create significant value. We're delivering on our milestone of strategic partnerships in hydrogen technologies, and this is a game changer in the development of our business. Through partnering with Plug and being a lead supplier, we're taking a significant step in our ambition to be a leading global supplier of CCMs. This deal underpins our targeted sales and hydrogen technologies of more than GBP 200 million by the end of 2024, 2025, with an acceleration of growth thereafter. What we'll do is provide a more detailed business update for hydrogen technologies alongside our full year results in May. You can see on its own, this is a great partnership for JM, but the value extends much further.
Strategically, this puts us in a great position to be a leading player in CCMs for the hydrogen industry. I look forward to working with Plug and the team over the coming months and years. It's very clear that our ambitions are aligned, and we're committed to making this a successful partnership. I'm more convinced than ever that Johnson Matthey has an exciting future ahead. We're a sustainable technology platform working across multiple industries to help our customers decarbonize. Doing so, we're catalyzing the net zero transition. With that, we're now happy to take your questions.
Thank you. If you would like to ask a question today, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you choose to withdraw your question, please press star followed by two. When preparing to ask your question, please ensure your phone is unmuted locally. Our first question today goes to Ranulf Orr of Citi. Ranulf, please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi, good morning, all. Just a couple of questions from me, please. Firstly, how will the economics, ownership, investment, profit distribution, on the co-invested plant be shared between you and Plug Power? Secondly, what kind of return on capital do you expect the minimum sales volume guarantee to generate for Johnson Matthey on the investment? Thirdly, on revenue progression, I believe you're targeting over GBP 200 million sales by 2025 from your 5 GW total capacity by then. We're adding another 5 GW in 2025, presumably split with Plug Power. Are we expecting another GBP 100 million revenue coming through in 2025, 2026? I'll join the queue for more questions. Thank you.
Okay. Thanks a lot, Ranulf. As Stephen's going to answer most of your questions with Mark, I just want to highlight on this one up front, because this is, let's say, one very big commercial deal, we've of course, got to be careful not to give out too many confidential details related to this. What we intend to do is in May, rather, to give you a more comprehensive picture around the overall hydrogen technologies business. We're not disclosing customer-specific commercial details. To try and answer directionally some of your questions, Stephen will start together with Mark.
Let me, Ranulf, good morning. I'll just pick up your second question first on the minimum volumes. At the very lowest level, what I'll say is we expect the contract to wash its face. Obviously we expect very significant upside to that, which will in time be accretive to the group's overall returns and margin.
Morning, Ranulf. Really excited to be here. To take the first question, Plug will be investing in the facility, the building, if you like. Will be, as Liam said, buying equipment and installing it and operating it. It's not a joint venture, it's a strategic partnership. Plug's investment in the facility is reflected in the pricing formulas that are there. We'll be making the sales to Plug, but their investment is reflected in the pricing formulas we've agreed.
Ranulf, let me pick up your last question on sales. We've said our expectation Technologies will be GBP 200 million by the end of financial year 2025. That's supplied through our existing 5 GW capacity. We've said that the Plug facility in the U.S. will initially be 5 GW scaling to 10. You can do the maths on that very simply. Recognizing of course, that that is just for one customer in Plug, and we expect other strategic partnerships beyond this.
Yeah. I think maybe just one final point, Randolph. I think you were asking as well, whether there was additional sales in 2025. Our 2025 numbers at GBP 200 million in sales was never really. The bottleneck was never really demand. It was always a question of supply, which is why we're building the Royston plant as well, so we could actually get up to that GBP 200 million. This new deal, the primary benefit is going to be in the time beyond 2025 because the plant starts up in 25. It underpins what we're doing, adds, of course, great growth momentum from 25 onwards.
Great. Thank you. Very clear.
Thanks, Ranulf.
Thank you. The next question goes to Gunther Zechmann of Bernstein. Gunther, please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi. Good morning, Liam. Hi, Steve. Thanks for doing the call. A couple of questions from my side as well. First one is on the customer relationship. If someone knocked on your door tomorrow and asked for a couple of gigawatts of your capacity as well, would you be limited in signing any further contracts given that your customers probably want to have some reassurance about existing capacity in the ground? Your thoughts about that would be my first question, please. Secondly, on the CapEx, the 3 GW expansion in Royston is GBP 80 million in CapEx, as a brownfield. Investing in the U.S. in a greenfield, how should we think about the CapEx then? How much of that do you think could be covered by the IRA, please?
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Thanks a lot, Gunther. On the customer relationship side or, how we're thinking overall about this, I mentioned earlier last year what we're clearly doing is moving away from transactional type of relationships where we're selling components like a, maybe a membrane or a catalyst. That we're really only interested in strategic partnerships, that add value then for both sides, where we focus on our core competence, which is the catalyst-coated membrane. Here, of course, this is a big step forward. We are in discussion with other potential strategic partners, but we will not be in discussion with any kind of transactional partners going forward. I think this is really the focus for us.
If a customer comes knocking at the door, they're interested in a truly long-term arrangement where there's skin in the game from both sides, we're willing to talk. Of course, they have to meet our minimum requirement of being one of the winners because our strategy is to win with winners. We're not gonna play with everybody, but we will be playing with the companies that we think will ultimately be the leaders in this industry. That's just how we think about it from a customer point of view. On the CapEx side, Stephen can give you a few pointers about how to best frame this.
Yeah. On the CapEx, you're spot on. We've said that Royston, which is 3 GW , will cost around GBP 80 million. Yes, that is brownfield. We're very deliberately putting that investment into our clean air plant as production from there moves to our efficient operations in Poland. The U.S. is greenfield. Of course, what we've said is that we're providing the equipment and we'll operate the equipment, but Plug will put down that new building for us. And we will, of course, make use of grants and available support in the U.S. as well.
If I could just follow up on the CapEx? I think one of the reasons Plug decided to partner with you is the closed-loop approach around PGM recycling as well.
Mm-hmm.
The CCM capacity is not the most capital intense investment in the portfolio. How do you think about additional capacity requirements in the U.S. for PGM recycling as well, in addition to what you have at the West Deptford recycling facility, please?
I'll pick that up as well. Yes, you're right. That is a key element of this partnership, the provision and recycling of PGMs. We've talked before about our significant reinvestment in our refinery in the UK, which maintains and expands our world-leading position. That refining capability for this arrangement on hydrogen and others will be very much through those reinvested facilities.
Thank you, Gunther. Our next question goes to Charlie Webb of Morgan Stanley. Charlie, please go ahead. Your line is open.
Morning, everyone. Maybe just kind of one follow-up on the mix of what you'll be selling in CCMs. You mentioned fuel cells and green electrolyzers within the release. Presumably today, most of your sales with Plug is centered around the fuel cells. Just understanding how that split develops with this investment and this project. Looking forward, you know, are you seeing quite a lot of traction on the green electrolyzers? I think last time we discussed with you that was more, you know, in development rather than commercial. Just trying to understand, you know, is this centered a little bit more around the fuel cell side, but you did mention green electrolyzers. What do you see there in terms of that deployment development commercialization with Plug?
Yeah. Sure. Thanks a lot, Charlie. Mark will take that one.
Thanks, Charlie. This is a strategic partnership with Plug that covers both electrolyzers and fuel cells, as you say, and MEAs, CCMs and components as we move forward. We will design the factory so that we can, of course, flex the production to meet Plug's demand. Overall, though, I would say given where the market is that and the relatively lower power density and higher volume expectations for fuel cells, in the beginning it will be biased towards fuel cells, and then we'll see how it develops over time. We should remember that Plug are actually one of the most advanced electrolyzer manufacturers, with real orders and real deployments. I would expect that to move over time.
Helpful. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question goes to Kevin Fogarty of Numis. Kevin, please go ahead. Your line is open.
Great. Thank you guys and well done on today's announcement. Just in terms of point of clarification, the statement talks about a substantial portion of Plug's demand for advanced materials being provided by you guys. Is there anything within that that from a technical, you know, does that just reflect, you know, your current offering, or is there anything from a technical capability that, you know, you feel that you won't be capable of providing? That's just really sort of clarification around that. The second point, thanks for the clarity in terms of, you know, what the customer relationship allows you to do with other customers.
When you now think about an additional customer partnership in this space, you know, having secured one in the U.S., does that sort of change your thinking in terms of where you might like to secure one next? Is the sort of draw of the incentives as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, you know, fairly compelling that, you know, you would probably look for another relationship in the U.S. or would you look elsewhere at this point?
Thanks a lot, Kevin. Mark will take the first one related to the substantial portion and whether or not there's a technological component behind that as well. I'll take the second one then on how we think about partnering beyond beyond the U.S. or whether this impacts our thinking on who the next strategic partners could be.
Sure. Thanks. Kevin on substantial proportion or substantial portion, obviously the details are commercially sensitive. Well, yeah, substantial means a substantial portion as you would expect from a strategic relationship. There are numerous constraints on both sides in the early days, but none of them are material. It's just as we walk through, and they're not necessarily technical. It is a substantial relationship for the long term.
On the partnering side, Kevin, to be quite open and frank, we go where the market is. When we talk about long-term strategic partnerships, we're looking at partners who can generate very significant volumes for us so that we can achieve our goal of not only being the technology leader but also the cost leader. It's really a secondary filter for us is then the specific region. First we're looking at the scale of partnership and what the partner can bring to us. This doesn't preclude additional deals in the U.S.
It's clear that we have a global strategy, and we won't only be investing in the U.S., we will be investing in other regions as well.
Great. That's really helpful. Thanks for the clarity.
Kevin, just to add to that. I think one of the important things about the Plug deal is the fit between the businesses and the teams and that cultural fit that really works with Plug. That's, as well as sort of regional demand and growth, it's sort of how do we work together. Is there a real strong fit which we see very clearly with the Plug team?
Brilliant. Thank you. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. The next question goes to Riya Kotecha of Bank of America. Riya, please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. My first one is on the specific components that the agreement itself entails. Does it include the MEAs? I know the release says, you'll supply advanced MEAs, and I'm just wondering, is this a different component to what Plug plans to in-house itself? Because that Plug's October capital market today had outlined a strategy to become the world's largest MEA assembler. Just wondering how that fits in.
Thanks, Riya. Mark will take that.
As we say in the announcement, we will supply MEA, CCM and components, membranes and catalysts. Again, won't go into all of the detail, except to say that predominantly, we'll be supplying CCMs, which Plug will turn into MEAs themselves, but it will be a basket of different components that are covered by the agreement.
Right. Just to follow up, what was the strategy or the rationale around the MEAs itself? Is that sort of, a demand on Plug's side to help it scale up, or how does the partnership work, on a partially in-house component, if that makes sense?
Yeah. I think it's. Both companies have been developing their business to date separately. As we bring a partnership together, we needed to think carefully about who does what and when using the facilities that are already in place. Also remembering this is a nascent market, and so developments can happen anywhere and are happening anywhere. There was a desire for both of us to come together, but also maintain a slight separate capability, as we develop.
Okay. Can you then speak about why a CCM would be harder for Plug's in-house versus an MEA, and is there like an IP protection, that JM has in place, or how are you thinking about that?
First of all, let me describe what a CCM is. It's a polymer membrane that we then take and coat with a PGM-based catalyst on both sides. The clever chemistry really happens between those catalysts and the polymer, and particularly at the boundary edge. That's where our deep experience of PGMs and our deep experience of electrochemistry comes into play, as well as our 20 years history of manufacturing these components. It was all of those things that Plug looked at and said, "You really should be the best in the industry at this, and therefore we want to partner with you.
Okay, thanks.
Thanks, Riya. I would only add, I mean, it's really the full package, the ability to supply PGMs, particularly platinum and iridium. Security of supply is a big topic for many strategic partners. The recycling capabilities, combined with the technology and the manufacturing capabilities. It's really that full package where Plug basically came to the conclusion that we would be a great partner for them.
Great. Thank you. Our next question goes to Jean-Baptiste Rolland of Credit Suisse. JB, please your headline is open.
Hi. Good morning. I'm just checking that you can hear me well.
Yep.
Yep. Very good.
Very good. Cool. Thank you so much for taking my questions, and thank you for the presentation. I have two questions. The first one around your customer portfolio. I understand that you say that you know, you will provide a substantial portion of Plug's procurement. I'm just wondering, in terms of on your end, how diversified do you want your customer portfolio to be in an ideal scenario? And I'd like to understand how you think about I guess, diversifying it. And my second question is around I'd like to understand a little bit more or if you could elaborate on your competitive position in MEA and CCM.
If I'm not wrong, I believe that a couple of years back, maybe seven years back, 3M and Plug had announced some strategic supply agreement for M fuel cells MEA. At the time, that seemed to be a pretty strong relationship. Am I right in thinking that you have been displacing this core supplier of Plug Power, or is it that Plug Power is diversifying its own procurement? Thank you.
Thanks. Thanks, JB. Let me start with how we think about diversification of the customer base. For us, it really goes back to this strategy of winning with the winners. I think it's clear that not everybody's gonna be a winner. It's kind of really important for us to figure out who those winners are going to be, team up with them and through those volumes, again, beyond the technological leadership, ensure that we can get volume leadership to ensure we can be the cost leader in the industry. That's really our overall game in CCMs.
We're not looking to partner with everybody, but we are looking to partner with the winners and clearly Plug Power falls into this category for us. On the, what this means for, let's say for other suppliers of Plug, we really can't comment. I think that's one that To take up, but we're very happy that this is a substantial portion of what Plug requires based on the experience that we've had together and what Plug perceives as a very strong competitive advantage of what we can offer.
Can you elaborate on, if I can follow up on your selection criteria, in terms of for customers, what are you predominantly looking for? It sounds that you have a pretty clear idea of what you want to go for and how to discriminate.
Let me take that one, JB. To your portfolio point of view, I think we will always be looking to have a geographic dispersion as well as a dispersion across fuel cells and electrolyzers. In terms of selection criteria, one never selects customers, but one obviously targets customers and they select you. What we look for is people who are really open to partnership and want to develop things together so that we can make a real difference to their business and their products. We look for people, as Liam says, who we believe have the capabilities and the ambition to win because we want to be a winner. We look for that cultural and values fit that I was talking about earlier.
People who we can work with, and develop together in this nascent market that will be different to how we all expect it to be. We want people who will shift with us, with a bit of flexibility.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. We have no further questions. I'll hand back to Liam for any closing remarks.
Okay. Thanks a lot, everybody, for joining, really appreciate it. I hope you got a strong impression about how excited we are and Plug is to be entering this partnership, and we look very much forward to updating you further at our full year results then in May. Thanks a lot, and enjoy the rest of the day.