(News Bulletin 247) – Currently in receivership, the young company is separating from its founder and announcing new cost reduction measures to get its head above water.

Hopium is fighting for its survival. The specialist in hydrogen vehicle technologies announced this Thursday several initiatives intended to relaunch itself after its placement in receivership last July.

The overall plan involves a reorganization of the general staff and not the least. the deputy general director, Olivier Lombard is leaving the company he founded in 2019 to “dedicate himself to other activities”. The former racing driver therefore falls to the sidelines, but nevertheless remains “the largest reference shareholder of the Hopium group”. Philippe Baudillon also leaves the adventure just a few months after joining Hopium as Deputy Managing Director.

Hopium is therefore tightening its governance around a single man, in this case Sylvain Laurent, the current Chairman and CEO. On September 11, he took over as chairman of the board of directors, replacing Alain Guillou, who had held the position since March 2023.

A revamped staff

He will therefore be the only pilot of this company in great financial difficulty. To return to better fortunes, Hopium also indicated this Thursday that it was continuing its cost reduction plan. The measures taken by the young growth concern in particular the lowering of the level of fixed costs and the reduction of the payroll. Hopium did not detail the amount of these cuts.

The company had already separated around thirty employees as part of a collective contractual termination, to reduce its workforce to a level of between 90 and 100 people at the end of last April.

This is because the young company spends a lot and has still not brought in any money since its creation. La Machina, its mass-market hydrogen car model, is only at the prototype stage. While waiting to generate the first euro of turnover, Hopium is living on financial life support.

In parallel with its placement in receivership, Hopium had in fact signed a new agreement with its partner Atlas Special Opportunities to finance its activity over the next 12 months. This financial lifeline takes the form of bonds convertible into shares, – therefore dilutive for existing shareholders. Hopium also proceeded in July and August to draw eight new tranches of this bond, leading to further dilution for shareholders.

These multiple operations, which are the consequence of Hopium’s difficulty in bringing about its hydrogen car project for individuals, are weighing on Hopium’s stock price. The company has lost 96% of its stock market value since the start of the year, and is currently trading at 19 euro cents. A bitter fall for a title which was trading at 30 euros two years ago.