FuelCell Energy cuts 22% of its staff as part of a restructuring plan

FuelCell Energy, a renewable energy company, announced on Friday that it had laid off 22 percent of its staff as part of an overall restructuring plan designed to reduce operating costs by 30 percent compared to a year ago.

Following the announcement, shares of the Danbury-based company in Connecticut rose 5.6% during premarket trading.

Many renewable energy companies have had to reconsider their expansion plans due to high interest rates and policy uncertainty surrounding capital-intensive clean power projects.

FuelCell announced that the new plan would focus on its operations in North America, Canada, and Germany. This follows a global restructuring of its operations, which took place in November. It included a reduction in its workforce of nearly 13%, and a 15% cut in operating expenses for 2025.

The plan, according to the company, is designed to protect its market position "in light of slower than expected market investments in renewable energy."

"Our priorities remain unchanged: to reduce our discretionary expenditure, to decrease our cash burning, and to accelerate our trajectory towards our ultimate goal, sustained positive adjusted EBITDA." Michael Bishop, CFO, said.

LSEG data shows that the company's adjusted core loss for the quarter ending April 30 was $19.3M, which is higher than Wall Street's expectations of $16.1M.

The company plans, as part of its restructuring plan, to change the production schedule of one of its manufacturing plants to match the contracted demand instead of forecasted demand.

After the latest reduction of its workforce, the company has 426 total employees around. (Reporting and editing by Shreya Biwas in Bengaluru)

(source: Reuters)