Tritium to shut Brisbane factory and seek profits in Tennessee
Tritium will shut its Brisbane factory with the loss of about 400 jobs and move to the US in a bid to become profitable.
The company, which produces electric vehicle charging units, had previously listed on the Nasdaq but was facing problems there with its shares diving well below the $US1 threshold to continue on the exchange.
It appears the company will shut its factory, but retain its research and development facility in Brisbane.
Tritium’s Jane Hunter said the plan to improve operational efficiency and margins by consolidating its manufacturing at its new plant in Tennessee and reduce selling and administration costs through job cuts.
“While we continue to build on our recently reported financial results, which include achieving record revenue and gross margin, strategic restructuring of our business is necessary to drive both profitability and shareholder value,” Hunter said.
“This transition is aligned with the company’s plan to be profitable in 2024.
“The implementation of this plan, including the closure of the Brisbane factory and consolidating our manufacturing operations in Tennessee, supports the ongoing market competitiveness and positioning of the company as a world leader in its category, driven in part by the highly successful scale-up of our US plant and the NEVI and BABA programs in the United States, while bringing our manufacturing operations closer to our largest markets.
“These changes reduce our capital requirements and hasten the timing of the company becoming EBITDA positive.”
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The company said investment in technology development, services, software, and sales continued.
It said there were plans to retain and grow Tritium’s more than 200-person research and development team and world-class test facility in Brisbane, along with its global services team and salesforce, as the company delivers its product roadmap with category-leading and differentiated fast charging systems and continues to rollout and support a fleet of more than 14,500 chargers across 47 countries.
Tritium opened the Tennessee plant in August 2022. The opening of the factory was an important step in Tritium’s strategy to achieve Buy America Build America (BABA) compliance, as required by the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program which funds fast chargers every 50 miles along American highways
