Daily Mail

Chemical giant takes £314m car battery hit

- By Francesca Washtell

JOHNSON Matthey’s decision to ditch a pioneering electric car battery scheme will cost the chemical giant £314m.

The FTSE 100 group said it swung to a loss of £9m in the six months to September as it announced the writedown.

Johnson Matthey said earlier this month it would scrap a decade of work into the project as it is too far behind foreign competitor­s in China and Korea. It will now plough cash into developing hydrogen technology.

The move has dealt a blow to Britain’s ambition to become an electric car battery champion.

Johnson Matthey also said it had sold its Advanced Glass Technologi­es business for £178m to the Italian group Fenzi. The company, which makes most of its money from selling catalytic converters for cars, is also looking at offloading its healthcare division.

Chief executive Robert MacLeod is due to step down in February and will be replaced by Liam Condon of Bayer who is expected to launch a review into the firm.

Amid the downbeat results, Johnson Matthey appealed to investors by hiking the dividend by 10pc to 22p and committing to a £200m share buyback.

But shares in the group dropped by as much as 8pc in early trading putting its future in the FTSE 100 under threat. Its shares closed 2.2pc lower, down 47p, to 2135p.

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