收购Phostech两年后 庄信万丰（JM）电池部门将首次盈利

庄信万丰(Johnson Matthey)是全球最大的有色金属和贵金属生产商，也是全球三大贵金属催化剂生产商之一。

在电池领域，庄信万丰的业务集中在磷酸铁锂正极材料，在过去几个月，其开始扩展到其它正极材料领域，例如能量密度更高的含镍材料。主要竞争对手是优美科，巴斯夫和日亚化学。

英国金融时报10月17日发布文章称，庄信万丰(Johnson Matthey)预计其电池部门今年将首次盈利，同时，瞄准于电动汽车巨大的市场，这家国际汽车催化剂制造商正在加大在电池材料领域的布局。

庄信万丰的电池业务集中在磷酸铁锂正极材料领域，在过去几个月，庄信万丰开始扩展到其它正极材料领域，例如能量密度更高的含镍材料。

事实上，早于2014年，庄信万丰就在电池材料领域做了一系列布局，2014年7月，JM就以2600万美元收购了万向A123在中国常州的LFP材料厂，该工厂的八十多名员工已经并入JM的电池技术部。

当年10月，庄信万丰又以7500万美元从瑞士特种化学品公司Clariant 手中收购其能源存储事业部，包括加拿大魁北克的生产工厂(原Phostech)、德国Moosburg的研发和中试基地(原Süd-Chemie锂电业务部)以及其拥有的客户资源和所有相关专利。

庄信万丰首席执行官罗伯特·麦克劳德(Robert MacLeod)表示：“我明年很有信心，我们可以获得电池业务盈亏平衡或小盈利。我们的目标是在这个市场扮演重要的角色。”

事实上，庄信万丰的雄心背后也反映出了全球电动车领域的快速发展。纯电动汽车和插电式混合动力汽车目前仅占全球汽车销量的不到1%，但分析师预计在2020年将超过传统内燃机汽车。

与此同时，特斯拉与其松下正在内华达州投资高达50亿美元的电池“超级工厂”，这将大幅降低成本，因为它准备在2018年开始生产Model 3电动车。

庄信万丰(JM)的市值目前为67亿英镑，自2012年以来，其在电池领域的相关收购投入超过1亿英镑。去年，该部门的营业额增长了一半以上，达到1.3亿英镑。其在这一领域的主要竞争对手是优美科，巴斯夫和日亚化学。

虽然该部门只占庄信万丰整体收入32亿英镑的一小部分，但它显示了家成立于1817年的公司敏锐的商业嗅觉，其正在准备终端市场的转变。

凭借涵盖贵金属，活性药物成分和化学品工厂许可证的组合，庄信万丰目前最大的收益来源是汽车催化剂业务。MacLeod判断指出，由于欧美国家更严格的政策法规，预计汽车催化剂的市场还有至少10年的增长期。而再往后看的话，随着中国加大在汽车排放领域的管控，汽车催化剂的市场同样还有很大的空间。

投资者希望电池部门获得比庄信万丰集团旗下燃料电池业务更好的发展。事实上，尽管其燃料电池业务销售额有所改善，但由于非汽车部门的需求不见起色，去年燃料电池业务遭受损失。

Lux Research的能源存储专家Tim Grejtak表示，随着供应链的不断成熟，过去几年阻碍电动汽车发展的电池成本在下降，这将加速市场的普及。他认为，作为正极材料开发商，庄信万丰具有非常强的材料背景，因此将在未来电池材料领域占据自己的独特地位。

附金融时报原文：

Johnson Matthey positive on profit for battery division

Johnson Matthey expects its battery division to make a profit for the first time this year, as the biggest manufacturer of catalytic converters jockeys for position in the race to supply components for cars of the future.

The FTSE 100 chemicals group makes materials used in cells for the automotive industry, as well as batteries for electric bicycles and power tools.

So far it has focused on lithium iron phosphate cathodes, typically used for hybrid electric vehicles and buses.

But in the past few months it has expanded into other cathode materials, such as those containing nickel that can store more energy for a given weight, for lithium-ion batteries found more in all-electric passenger cars.

“I’m pretty confident within the next year or so we can get the [battery] business to break-even or small profitability,” said chief executive Robert MacLeod. “We aim to be a serious player in this market.”

The company’s ambition reflects the rapid developments in the domain of electric-powered vehicles.

Battery-only and plug-in hybrid cars represent less than 1 per cent of global car sales at present, but analysts expect they will overtake traditional internal combustion engine cars during the 2020s.

Tesla, with its partner Panasonic, is investing up to $5bn in a battery “giga-factory” in Nevada, which it says will bring down costs sharply, as it gears up to start production of its Model 3 sedan in 2018.

Johnson Matthey, which has a market value of ￡6.7bn, has spent more than ￡100m on battery technology acquisitions since 2012. Turnover at the division increased by more than half to ￡130m last year, largely as a result of acquisitions, though underlying growth was in the double digits. Its main competitors in this area are Umicore, BASF and Nichia.

While the unit makes up only a small fraction of overall adjusted revenues of ￡3.2bn, it shows how the company, established in 1817 as a gold assayer, is preparing for an eventual shift in its principal end-market. With a portfolio spanning precious metals, active pharmaceutical ingredients and licences for chemicals plants, Johnson Matthey’s biggest source of earnings is catalytic converters.

Even so, Mr MacLeod said he expected at least another decade of rising emissions-control equipment sales because of more stringent regulations.

“If I look forward 10 years we are going to see a greater proportion of our emission control business in China?…?because tighter [pollution] legislation’s coming there,” he said.

Investors will be hoping the battery venture yields better results than the group’s quest to commercialise fuel cells. Despite improved sales, with demand from non-automotive sectors, that business suffered a writedown last year.

Tim Grejtak, an energy storage expert at Lux Research, said costs for automotive batteries — one of the main hurdles to adoption, together with driving range — had fallen quickly in the last couple of years as supply chains matured.

He added: “As a cathode materials developer [Johnson Matthey] have a very strong materials background [and] are in a unique position to develop new lines of products for manufacturing lines.”