Thyssenkrupp Nucera prepared for any US shift on green hydrogen

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Thyssenkrupp Nucera, which makes electrolysers that are needed to produce low-carbon hydrogen, said on Tuesday it could quickly shift resources elsewhere if U.S. policies under President-elect Donald Trump proved negative for the sector.

Clean-tech players have been concerned over what a Trump presidency might mean for the industry, fearing substantial cuts to President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act which is aimed at promoting everything from wind power to green hydrogen.

Thyssenkrupp Nucera's shares were up 9.6% at 1054 GMT, reaching their highest level since Nov. 7, in part due to a smaller-than-expected operating loss for 2023/24, reassuring investors who have been concerned by delays to projects.

"We would be poor strategists and poor business leaders if we did not prepare for this," Thyssenkrupp Nucera CEO Werner Ponikwar said after presenting forecast-beating annual results, singling out India as a market with strong growth momentum.

Ponikwar highlighted the German company's broad global footprint and its asset-light business model as indicative of flexibility. Production of its electrolysers, which are needed to produce low-carbon hydrogen, is essentially outsourced.

"If we find that there is actually less business in the USA than we originally thought it does not mean that we cannot deploy our resources elsewhere," he said.

Ponikwar said that legislation on green hydrogen incentives in the U.S. and Europe needed to be clarified quickly, warning that the sector will otherwise experience further delays.

The group's operating loss for 2023/2024 was 14 million euros ($14.7 million), better than the mid double-digit million euro loss it initially expected.

Sales rose 30% to 862 million euros, said the company, which is majority-owned by Thyssenkrupp, forecasting sales of 850 million to 950 million euros for 2025.

($1 = 0.9538 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Alexander Smith)