Metair hones global strategy

• Battery maker is shifting focus to China, Russia and India on increased demand for electric vehicles

Metair is shifting its focus from North American battery and automotive components markets in future to big emerging countries — China, Russia and India — after President Donald Trump pulled the US out of global climate accords.

Along with uncertainties around Brexit, the UK and France have recently signalled a move to only electric vehicles by 2040, so Metair wants to make sure it is ready for these changes and is backing the right horses. This comes as the company delivered “an excellent” halfyear performance to June 2017.

“For Metair, it is all about longevity, strategy and technology,” MD Theo Loock said on Thursday. The change had been driven by requests for technical assistance and technology transfer in these markets.

Profit of R240m was more than double the R116m in the same period in 2016. Group revenue rose slightly to R4bn. Headline earnings per share rocketed 111% after the group’s automotive components business stabilised following costs of a Toyota vehicle model launch in 2016 and from an improvement in efficiencies.

“It’s a very encouraging result and positive for the outlook of the company,” Momentum SP Reid Securities’ Dexter Mahachi said on Thursday.

The gains came despite foreign exchange and commodity price pressures in the global markets in which Metair operated. The group has big battery manufacturing operations in SA, Turkey and Romania, including for vehicles, mining, leisure craft, industrial, railway and renewable energy applications.

Loock said Metair was striving to be a global player in energy solutions for the full “mobility spectrum”.

This included electric vehicles that were becoming more popular in China and India.

At the same time, the EU and China were strengthening relations, as China was pushing its “New Silk Road” policy, which aimed to reopen trading links with Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

“Metair remains well positioned to take advantage of changing technological trends … particularly the possible accelerated mass introduction electric vehicles,” Loock said.

The group had refined its global strategy in this regard, which revolved around producing 50-million batteries across five continents over five years.

Together with its technology partners, Metair was transferring its existing technologies into large developing markets.

“There is no doubt that there is disruption and change in our markets, but Metair is very well positioned to capitalise on these changes,” Loock said.

In 2013, the group took control of Mutlu Aku, a Turkish lead-acid battery manufacturer and distributor in a R2.17bn deal. This had made it the thirdlargest maker of vehicle batteries in eastern Europe and Russia, the Middle East and Africa and also a major producer of batteries for heavy vehicles. In 2012, the group bought a 99% stake in Rombat, the largest lead-acid battery maker in Romania.

Meanwhile, Metair’s advanced South African-derived “start-stop” battery technology, which enables vehicles to switch off instead of idle when stopped, is key in respect of European pollution laws.

The group had also bought a recent 25.1% stake in Germanbased battery maker Akkumulatorenfabrik Moll for €7.4m. of

THERE IS DISRUPTION IN OUR MARKETS, BUT METAIR IS VERY WELL POSITIONED TO CAPITALISE ON THESE CHANGES