Li-Cycle reports loss in Q3

Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., the Toronto-based lithium-ion battery recycler that has a “spoke” facility at Eastman Business Park, on Thursday reported a third-quarter loss of $6.9 million, despite an 840 percent increase in sales.

For the quarter ended July 31, Li-Cycle reported revenues of $1.7 million, compared with $200,000 in the same quarter last year, driven primarily by an increase in the number of batteries and battery scrap processed at the Rochester spoke facility. Operating expenses also increased as a result of personnel costs and ramp-up of facilities including Rochester.

The net loss of $6.9 million for the quarter compared to a $1.8 million loss in the same quarter last year.

“I am incredibly proud of what the Li-Cycle team has accomplished so far in 2021, continuing our mission to solve the global battery manufacturing scrap and end-of-life lithium-ion battery problem by creating a secondary supply of critical battery materials, while also ensuring a sustainable future for our planet,” said Li-Cycle President and CEO Ajay Kochhar. “Since announcing our business combination with Peridot Acquisition Corp. in February, we signed significant commercial agreements with Ultium Cells LLC — the joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution — and Univar Solutions Inc.; we began construction of our Arizona Spoke; and just yesterday, we announced plans to build an incremental fourth Spoke in Alabama.

“With the funds from our business combination transaction completed in August 2021, we believe that Li-Cycle is primed to capitalize on the significant growth opportunities created by the continuing mobility revolution,” he added.

Li-Cycle was founded in 2016 and uses a patented “spoke & hub” technology to recover and recycle lithium-ion batteries. The EBP facility produces an intermediate mixed battery material product known as “black mass” from all types of spent lithium-ion batteries. The facility, which was the second spoke for the company, has the capacity to process up to 5,000 tons of spent lithium-ion batteries per year.

In a statement, Li-Cycle officials noted that the demand for lithium-ion battery recycling has continued to exceed the company’s projections. In order to meet the growing demand, the company plans to increase and accelerate investment in the build-out of its recycling capacity, including through the development of the Alabama Spoke, increasing its processing capacity beyond that of previous plans and projections.

Li-Cycle officials said the company is confident in its ability to scale the business to at least 100,000 tons per year of spoke processing capacity and 220,000 to 240,000 tons per year of hub processing capacity by 2025.

Shares of company stock (NYSE: LICY) were trading down Friday midday at $7.85.

[email protected] / 585-653-4021
Follow Velvet Spicer on Twitter: @Velvet_Spicer