News

June 03, 2008

CMR Fuel Cells: Investor Patience With Fuel Cell Technology Wears Thin

By Rue Swabey

UK-based CMR Fuel Cells was founded in 2003 to develop and commercialise methanol fuel cell stack technology for the portable electronics market. It was admitted to AIM in December 2005 with a market capitalisation of £35.7 million and float price of 176p. At the time the potential of fuel cells was overplayed and the sector got ahead of itself. Sentiment soon turned against fuel cell technology and stock prices are down sharply. Today CMR Fuel Cells is trading at 20p for a market capitalisation of just £4 million which is significantly lower than the company’s December 2007 cash balance of £8.4 million.

Why is the market ascribing no value to the company’s intellectual property? CMR Fuel Cells is targeting the sub-50 watt space which is primarily lap tops. Demand for micro fuel cell stacks is not being driven by green issues but by the growing gap between the power available from lithium batteries and the power needed by modern, connectivity-rich portable electronic products. Lithium battery technology is operating at close to its limits. Although consensus opinion suggests that fuel cell...