Energy company Engie, which acquired EV Box, a provider of electric vehicle charging stations, in 2017, announced on Friday that it was “actively exploring all options for disengagement” from its subsidiary due to its “deficitary results” and the lack of a complete takeover project at this stage.
“The group is actively exploring all options for disengagement, in accordance with local regulations,” the company said in a statement released alongside its quarterly results.
This move is justified by “deficitary results (…) and the absence, to date, of positive feedback following the efforts (…) to identify a potential buyer,” it stated.
The subsidiary, which has been struggling for several years, currently employs around 700 people, including 150 in France, with the majority of staff in the Netherlands, according to Engie.
Engie (formerly GDF) announced the acquisition of this Dutch company in 2017, a specialist since 2010 in the provision of electric vehicle charging stations, for an undisclosed amount.
Like energy companies such as EDF and TotalEnergies, Engie expresses its desire to accelerate in electric mobility, with a target of 12,000 charging points in France by 2025. To date, Engie has deployed 3,600 in Europe, spread over 1,625 charging stations, with 2,200 in France and 1,400 in Belgium, the group told AFP on Friday.
However, Engie now believes that EV Box’s activity, dedicated to “the manufacturing of charging installations,” is “quite distant” from its “core business.”
“We are a producer, an energy manager (…) but we are not a manufacturer,” nor “equipment supplier,” justified Pierre-François Riolacci, deputy general manager of finance for the group, to journalists.
“There was a lot of work to try to bring this company up to standard, and then it was subsequently confronted with a very strong slowdown in market installations,” he explained, following the war in Ukraine, the surge in energy prices, and changes in subsidy schemes in certain countries.
Engie attempted to sell the company in its entirety, without success, due to a “depressed market,” according to him.
The group is therefore now focusing “on scenarios” to “reduce (its) exposure,” involving in particular “partial takeovers” of activity, Mr. Riolacci specified.
Asked about the prospect of activity cessation accompanied by layoffs, Engie’s CFO considered this scenario “far too premature,” without further details.
“Before waving this kind of specter, I think we need to do our job,” he replied.