Can Neuros survive?

Hydrogen car component firm Neuros is hoping that high demand from hydrogen cars can save it from being delisted from KOSDAQ, South Korea’s major bourse.

Shares of the company stopped trading in March after an audit from an audit firm refused to draw a conclusion of the firm’s annual sales for 2020 in March.

Neuros also failed to secure from a Chinese company last month, further dashing hopes that it could turnaround its fortune.

But on Thursday, a company spokesperson said it was seeing high sales of turbo blower and air compressors used in hydrogen fuel-cell cars.

This will help it record 60 billion won in sales, the spokesperson claimed.

The Korea Exchange has given Neuros until April of next year to improve its financial record following the audit firms refusal to draw a conclusion from its books.

The company also attempted to payback its debt by securing funds from Chinese national company HSD. It aimed to secure 17.7 billion won for shares but the deal broke down last month.

Poor earnings and failure to secure funds has raised questions on whether Neuros will be delisted from KOSDAQ.

Korea Investors Service, an affiliate of Moody’s, recently downgraded Neuros’ credit rating from B- to CCC. A source at Korea Investors Service said there was doubt whether the company could payback its debts.

However, the source said Neuros still had competence in turbo blowers and air compressor, and the firm has recently received orders for them from Hyundai Motor.

European Union’s move to enforce carbon emission restriction was also a boon for Neuros, they said.

Earlier this month, the European Union announced that it was planning to reduce carbon emission of 2030 to 55% of what it was in 1990. The policy remains to be approved. But the Union is planning to end combustible engine cars by 2035. Hydrogen cars could be proposed as a more efficient alternative compared to electric cars to achieve this goal, the source said.

Meanwhile, a Neuros spokesperson said it was still in talks to form a joint venture with HSD, despite the Chinese firm not investing into the South Korean firm.