Fuel cell maker Ballard Power Systems’ revenue in the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2023 amounted to $13.3 million, a 37% decline YoY.

Heavy Duty Mobility revenue totaled $8.7 million, reflecting an 11% decrease, primarily driven by lower revenues from technology services contracts relating to the company’s truck vertical in China. However, this decrease was partially offset by higher rail and marine revenue.

Further, stationary fuel cell revenue amounted to $2.5 million, marking a significant 58% decrease due to reduced sales of stationary power generation fuel cell modules, stacks, products, and services in Australia.

Moreover, emerging and other market revenue reached $2.1 million, experiencing a notable 61% decrease. This decline was mainly due to the completion of the Audi Technology Services program and lower shipments in the company’s materials handling segment.

It is worth noting that power products revenue accounted for more than 70% of the company’s total revenue in the quarter.

However, the company’s net loss narrowed to $33.9 million for the January-March quarter compared to a loss of $40.4 million year-on-year (YoY) because of lower non-operational costs.

Total operating expenses and cash operating costs amounted to $37.5 million and $32.0 million, respectively, representing a 24% and 23% increase compared to Q1 2022.

Higher expenditures on research, technology, product development, sales, and marketing primarily drove these increases.

Adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) for the quarter was $38.3 million, in contrast to $27.5 million in Q1 2022. This change was primarily influenced by the decrease in gross margin and increased cash operating costs.

In the first quarter, Ballard received new orders totaling approximately $17.6 million and delivered orders valued at $13.3 million.

The company reported an order backlog of around $137.7 million by the end of the quarter.

The growth in the order backlog was primarily driven by increased orders from Europe and North America, particularly in the bus and stationary power markets. Together, these regions now account for approximately 76% of the total order backlog, compared to around 39% in the same period of the previous year.

President and CEO Randy MacEwen said, “With an increasingly positive policy landscape, we see growing customer interest in our core mobility markets of bus, truck, rail, and marine in Europe and North America. We believe our $137.7 million Order Backlog reflects continued customer platform wins, including a record Power Products Order Backlog that has doubled from one year ago and now exceeds $100 million.”

The company announced that they are on track with their first-quarter expenses and are successfully progressing towards achieving their full-year operating and capital expenses targets.

The net loss of fuel cell and clean energy solutions provider Ballard Power Systems narrowed to $34.4 million in the fourth quarter (Q4) of the financial year (FY) 2022 from a net loss of $43.8 million in the same quarter of 2021.

The company posted a net loss of $42.88 million in the third quarter of 2022, a YoY increase of 39%.