An error occurred while processing the template.
The following has evaluated to null or missing:
==> .vars['reserved-article-group-id']  [in template "161555#161602#ARTICLE-PAGE---HERO" at line 14, column 20]

----
Tip: It's the final [] step that caused this error, not those before it.
----
Tip: If the failing expression is known to legally refer to something that's sometimes null or missing, either specify a default value like myOptionalVar!myDefault, or use <#if myOptionalVar??>when-present<#else>when-missing</#if>. (These only cover the last step of the expression; to cover the whole expression, use parenthesis: (myOptionalVar.foo)!myDefault, (myOptionalVar.foo)??
----

----
FTL stack trace ("~" means nesting-related):
	- Failed at: #assign groupId = .vars["reserved-art...  [in template "161555#161602#ARTICLE-PAGE---HERO" at line 14, column 1]
----
1<#assign namespace = randomNamespace /> 
2<#assign JSONFactoryUtil = staticUtil["com.liferay.portal.kernel.json.JSONFactoryUtil"] /> 
3<#assign journalArticleLocalService = serviceLocator.findService("com.liferay.journal.service.JournalArticleLocalService") /> 
4<#assign containerId = randomNamespace /> 
5<#assign shareURL = themeDisplay.getPortalURL()+themeDisplay.getURLCurrent()/> 
6 
7<#-- Auto-assign ALL category to every article --> 
8<#assign assetCategoryLocalService = serviceLocator.findService("com.liferay.asset.kernel.service.AssetCategoryLocalService") /> 
9<#assign assetEntryLocalService = serviceLocator.findService("com.liferay.asset.kernel.service.AssetEntryLocalService") /> 
10<#assign journalArticleLocalService = serviceLocator.findService("com.liferay.journal.service.JournalArticleLocalService") /> 
11  
12<#-- Get current JournalArticle --> 
13<#assign articleId = .vars['reserved-article-id'].data /> 
14<#assign groupId = .vars['reserved-article-group-id'].data?number /> 
15<#assign journalArticle = journalArticleLocalService.getArticle(groupId, articleId) /> 
16  
17<#-- Get AssetEntry for this article --> 
18<#assign assetEntry = assetEntryLocalService.getEntry("com.liferay.journal.model.JournalArticle", journalArticle.getResourcePrimKey()) /> 
19  
20<#-- Your ALL category ID --> 
21<#assign allCategoryId = 4614994 /> 
22  
23<#-- Assign ALL category if not already set --> 
24<#if !assetEntry.getCategories()?seq_contains(assetCategoryLocalService.getCategory(allCategoryId))> 
25    <#assign categoryIds = assetEntry.getCategoryIds() + [allCategoryId] /> 
26    ${assetEntryLocalService.updateEntry( 
27        assetEntry.getUserId(), 
28        assetEntry.getGroupId(), 
29        assetEntry.getClassName(), 
30        assetEntry.getClassPK(), 
31        assetEntry.getUuid(), 
32        assetEntry.getClassTypeId(), 
33        categoryIds, 
34        assetEntry.getTagNames() 
35    )} 
36</#if> 
37 
38<div class="hero jmarticle__hero-main-container"> 
39    <div class="container"> 
40        <div class="row"> 
41            <div class="article__cont"> 
42                <h1 class="article__heading">${Title.getData()}</h1> 
43                <#if (SubTitle.getData())??> 
44                    <p class="article__para"> 
45                        ${SubTitle.getData()} 
46                    </p> 
47                </#if> 
48 
49                <#assign Date_Data=getterUtil.getString(Date.getData())> 
50                <#if validator.isNotNull(Date_Data)> 
51                    <p class="article__date"> 
52                        <#assign Date_DateObj=dateUtil.parseDate("yyyy-MM-dd", Date_Data, locale)> 
53                        ${dateUtil.getDate(Date_DateObj, "dd MMMM yyyy", locale)} 
54                    </p> 
55                </#if> 
56 
57                <#if Link_Title?? && Link_Title.getData()?has_content> 
58                    <#list Link_Title.getSiblings() as cur_Link_Title> 
59						<#if cur_Link_Title?? && cur_Link_Title.getData()?has_content> 
60							<#assign linkHref="#" /> 
61							<#assign target="" /> 
62							 
63							<#assign rowId = containerId + cur_Link_Title?index /> 
64							<#if cur_Link_Title.Link_Internal?? && cur_Link_Title.Link_Internal.getFriendlyUrl()?has_content> 
65								<#assign linkHref=cur_Link_Title.Link_Internal.getFriendlyUrl() /> 
66							<#elseif cur_Link_Title.Link_Media?? && cur_Link_Title.Link_Media.getData()?has_content> 
67								<#assign linkHref=cur_Link_Title.Link_Media.getData() /> 
68							<#elseif cur_Link_Title.Link_Mailto?? && cur_Link_Title.Link_Mailto.getData()?has_content> 
69								<#assign linkHref="mailto:" + cur_Link_Title.Link_Mailto.getData() /> 
70							<#elseif cur_Link_Title.Link_External?? && cur_Link_Title.Link_External.getData()?has_content> 
71								<#assign linkHref=cur_Link_Title.Link_External.getData() /> 
72							</#if> 
73							<#if (cur_Link_Title.Link_Target??) && (cur_Link_Title.Link_Target.getData())?has_content> 
74								<#assign target=cur_Link_Title.Link_Target.getData() /> 
75							</#if> 
76							<div id="blue_button_click_div" data-analytics-asset-type="custom"> 
77								<div class="jmarticle__hero-btn-list"> 
78									<a id="panel_blue_button_${rowId}" class="article__btn" href="${linkHref}" title="${cur_Link_Title.getData()}" target="${target}" data-analytics-asset-action="click" onclick="onBlueButtonClick(this)" > 
79										<span class="btn__text">${cur_Link_Title.getData()}</span> 
80										<span class="arrow__forward"></span> 
81									</a> 
82								</div> 
83							</div> 
84						</#if> 
85					</#list> 
86                </#if> 
87				  <div class="article-download-share"> 
88                
89                    <#if PDFTitle?? && PDFTitle.getData()?has_content> 
90                        <#assign title = PDFTitle.getData() /> 
91                        <#assign pdf_link = "#" /> 
92                        <#assign pdfrowId = containerId /> 
93                        <#if PDFTitle.PDF?? && PDFTitle.PDF.getData()?has_content> 
94                            <#assign pdf_link = PDFTitle.PDF.getData() /> 
95                        </#if> 
96                        <div class="article-download"> 
97                            <div id="blue_button_click_div" data-analytics-asset-type="custom"> 
98                                <div class="jmarticle__hero-btn-list"> 
99                                    <a id="panel_blue_button_${pdfrowId}" class="article__btn" href="${pdf_link}" title="${title}" data-analytics-asset-action="click" onclick="onBlueButtonClick(this)"> 
100                                        <span class="btn__text">${title}</span> 
101                                        <span class="arrow__forward"></span> 
102                                    </a> 
103                                   <a id="panel_blue_button_${pdfrowId}" class="article__btn-mobile" href="${pdf_link}"             title="${title}" data-analytics-asset-action="click" onclick="onBlueButtonClick(this)"> 
104                                       <img src="${themeDisplay.getPathThemeImages()}/new__jm__images/download-white-icon.svg" alt="twitter image"/> 
105                                    </a> 
106                                </div> 
107                            </div> 
108                        </div> 
109                    </#if> 
110                                 
111                </div> 
112                 
113            </div> 
114        </div> 
115       <#if (ImageLarge.getData())?? && ImageLarge.getData() != ""> 
116            <div class="row jmarticle__hero-banner" id="jmarticle__hero-${namespace}"  
117            style="background-image: url(${ImageLarge.getData()})"> 
118        </#if> 
119 
120        </div> 
121    </div> 
122</div> 
123 
124<#if Author?? && Author.getData()?has_content> 
125    <div class="jmarticle__author-info"> 
126        <div class="container"> 
127            <div class="hero__bar"> 
128                     <#list Author.getSiblings() as cur_Author> 
129                            <#if cur_Author?? && cur_Author.getData()?has_content> 
130                                <#assign 
131                                    webContentData = jsonFactoryUtil.createJSONObject(cur_Author.getData()) 
132                                    gId = groupId 
133                                    journalArticle = journalArticleLocalService.getArticleByUrlTitle(gId, webContentData.title) 
134                                    docXML = saxReaderUtil.read(journalArticle.getContent()) 
135 
136                                    fName = docXML.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='FullName']/dynamic-content/text()") 
137                                    jobTitle = docXML.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='JobTitle']/dynamic-content/text()") 
138                                    role = docXML.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='ContactInfo']/dynamic-content/text()") 
139                                    photoXML = docXML.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='Photo']/dynamic-content/text()") 
140                                    photoSrc = JSONFactoryUtil.createJSONObject(photoXML).getString("uuid") 
141                                    fullName = docXML.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='Title']/dynamic-content/text()") 
142                                    authorImageXML = docXML.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='ImageLarge']/dynamic-content/text()") 
143                                    authImageSrc = JSONFactoryUtil.createJSONObject(authorImageXML).getString("uuid") 
144                                    summary = docXML.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='Summary']/dynamic-content/text()") 
145                                /> 
146 
147                                    <div class="author"> 
148                                        <figure class="author__image"> 
149                                            <#if authImageSrc?? && authImageSrc?has_content> 
150                                                <img src="/documents/${groupId}/${authImageSrc}" alt="${fullName}" class="author_img_class_new"> 
151                                            <#elseif photoSrc?? && photoSrc?has_content> 
152                                                <img src="/documents/${groupId}/${photoSrc}" alt="${fName}" class="author_img_class_new"> 
153                                            </#if> 
154                                        </figure> 
155                                        <div class="author__details d-flex flex-column"> 
156                                            <h3 class="author__name"> 
157                                                <a rel="author"> 
158                                                    <#if fullName?? && fullName?has_content> 
159                                                        ${fullName} 
160                                                    <#elseif fName?? && fName?has_content> 
161                                                        ${fName} 
162                                                    </#if> 
163                                                </a> 
164                                            </h3> 
165                                            <p class="author__desc text-size-a author_job_title"> 
166                                                <#if jobTitle?? && jobTitle?has_content> 
167                                                    ${jobTitle} 
168                                                </#if> 
169                                            </p> 
170                                            <span> 
171                                                <p class="author__desc text-size-a"> 
172                                                    <#if summary?? && summary?has_content> 
173                                                        ${summary} 
174                                                    </#if> 
175                                                    <#if role?? && role?has_content> 
176                                                        ${role} 
177                                                    </#if> 
178                                                </p> 
179                                            </span> 
180                                        </div> 
181                                        <div> 
182                                            <div class="author__contact"> 
183                                                <ul class="author__contact-list"> 
184                                                </ul> 
185                                            </div> 
186                                        </div> 
187                                    </div> 
188                             </#if> 
189                     </#list> 
190            </div> 
191    	</div> 
192    </div> 
193</#if> 
194 
195 
196 
197<div class="container"> 
198    <div class="row"> 
199        <div class="article__intro"> 
200            <#if (Introduction.getData())??> 
201            	${Introduction.getData()} 
202            </#if> 
203 
204           <div class="article-download-share"> 
205                
206                    <#if PDFTitle?? && PDFTitle.getData()?has_content> 
207                        <#assign title = PDFTitle.getData() /> 
208                        <#assign pdf_link = "#" /> 
209                        <#assign pdfrowId = containerId /> 
210                        <#if PDFTitle.PDF?? && PDFTitle.PDF.getData()?has_content> 
211                            <#assign pdf_link = PDFTitle.PDF.getData() /> 
212                        </#if> 
213                        <div class="article-download"> 
214                            <div id="blue_button_click_div" data-analytics-asset-type="custom"> 
215                                <div class="jmarticle__hero-btn-list"> 
216                                    <a id="panel_blue_button_${pdfrowId}" class="article__btn" href="${pdf_link}" title="${title}" data-analytics-asset-action="click" onclick="onBlueButtonClick(this)"> 
217                                        <span class="btn__text">${title}</span> 
218                                        <span class="arrow__forward"></span> 
219                                    </a> 
220                                   <a id="panel_blue_button_${pdfrowId}" class="article__btn-mobile" href="${pdf_link}"             title="${title}" data-analytics-asset-action="click" onclick="onBlueButtonClick(this)"> 
221                                       <img src="${themeDisplay.getPathThemeImages()}/new__jm__images/download-white-icon.svg" alt="twitter image"/> 
222                                    </a> 
223                                </div> 
224                            </div> 
225                        </div> 
226                    </#if>               
227                
228                   
229               <div class="article-share"> 
230                   <a href="https://linkedin.com/shareArticle?url=${shareURL}&title=<#if (Title.getData())??>${Title.getData()}</#if>" target="_blank"> 
231                       <img class="socialicons__img" src="${themeDisplay.getPathThemeImages()}/new__jm__images/social_icons-LinkedIN.png" alt="twitter image"/> 
232                    </a> 
233                      <a  href="https://twitter.com/share?url=${shareURL}&text=<#if (Title.getData())??>${Title.getData()}</#if>" target="_blank"> 
234                       <img class="socialicons__img" src="${themeDisplay.getPathThemeImages()}/new__jm__images/social_icons-Twitter.png" alt="twitter image"/> 
235                    </a> 
236                </div> 
237            </div> 
238       
239        </div> 
240    </div> 
241</div> 
242 
243<style> 
244    img.author_img_class_new { 
245        width: 100% !important; 
246        height: 100% !important; 
247        position: absolute; 
248        margin: auto; 
249        top: 0; 
250        bottom: 0; 
251
252     
253    .article__btn:focus-visible { 
254    outline: 2px solid blue !important; 
255
256 
257@media (min-width: 320px) and (max-width: 650px) { 
258	.article__intro li { 
259	   margin-left: -32px !important;		 
260
261	.journal-content-article .container .article__intro { 
262    margin-top: 22px !important; 
263
264
265@media (min-width: 540px) and (max-width: 834px) { 
266    .article__intro li { 
267	      margin-left: -32px !important;		 
268
269    .article__intro { 
270        margin: 60px 15px 0 5px !important;         
271
272
273  
274@media (min-width: 320px) and (max-width: 539px){ 
275.jmarticle__author-info { 
276    padding: 0px 0; 
277
278.jmarticle__author-info .author__image { 
279    width: 39px; 
280    height: 40px; 
281
282 
283.jmarticle__author-info .author__name a { 
284    line-height: 0px; 
285    font-size: 18px !important; 
286    margin-right: 10px; 
287
288 
289.jmarticle__author-info .author__desc { 
290     
291    line-height: 14px; 
292    font-size: 12px !important; 
293    margin-bottom: 7px; 
294
295
296  
297</style> 

Robert MacLeod, Chief Executive, commented

I am pleased with the progress we continue to make across our businesses during this pandemic, despite the decline in first quarter sales. We are seeing recovery in customer demand and automotive production across Clean Air. Efficient Natural Resources was resilient and we signed a large licence in China, whilst Health is benefiting from our new customer contracts. We continue to make progress in commercialising eLNO and anticipate soon having five customers in full cell testing. We have also started to deliver the additional efficiency benefits we recently outlined and expect initial benefits of at least £30 million this year.

Visibility on demand remains limited and we cannot provide financial guidance for the current year. Having said that, we expect operating performance will be heavily weighted to the second half with first half operating performance materially below last year, largely due to weaker activity in Clean Air.

We are busy on multiple fronts and I remain grateful to all our employees for their hard work and dedication as we navigate through this difficult period. Appointments in the last year have strengthened our senior executive team and brought increased commercial focus to the group, enabling us to execute at pace and focus on creating a simpler and more efficient business. I am also excited about all of our strategic growth projects, consistent with our vision for a world that’s cleaner and healthier, as well as the attractive returns they will deliver over the medium term. We look forward to sharing more detail on our growth opportunities in Fuel Cells and Hydrogen at an investor seminar in September.

Improving trend through the first quarter

In the first quarter, group sales were down materially at constant currency, as expected, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The decline was driven by Clean Air as a result of lower consumer demand and temporary customer shutdowns, although sales in this sector steadily improved through the quarter. In aggregate, sales from our other sectors were broadly flat compared with the prior year.

Clean Air performance improved sequentially through the first quarter

Clean Air sales were down c.50% in the quarter, primarily driven by weaker consumer demand and temporary customer shutdowns in Europe and the Americas. As the quarter progressed, we saw improvement with April, May and June sales across Clean Air down 75%, 60% and 20% respectively. All of our plants are now operating. By region, better consumer demand drove a strong recovery in automotive production in China supported by early implementation of China 6 legislation, and in Europe and the US there was a steady ramp up in demand.

Looking forward we anticipate July sales to be down c.20%, with improvement through the remainder of the second quarter. That said, the market remains volatile with consumer demand, inventory through the chain and the extent of automotive OEM summer shutdowns hard to forecast. External data continue to suggest automotive production in Europe and the US will be down c.25% in our fiscal year, better in China, but down slightly more in heavy duty. However, visibility on the path of recovery remains low and the outcome could be materially different. We have a flexible cost base in Clean Air enabling us to manage different levels of activity, with c.75% of costs being variable before mitigation.

Efficient Natural Resources affected by end market weakness and delayed customer orders

Sales in Efficient Natural Resources were slightly down in the first quarter. Catalyst Technologies sales were lower due to weaker demand in some of our end markets such as additives and formaldehyde, and as we began to see some customers delaying orders. Whilst business has been disrupted by COVID-19 in the short term, we are seeing medium term decisions being made and we signed a new oxoalcohol licence in China in the period, which will benefit future years. PGM Services (PGMS) saw sales growth, benefiting from continued strength in precious metals prices.

Looking ahead, we expect first half operating performance in Efficient Natural Resources to be lower than the prior year driven by Catalyst Technologies (weaker demand and delayed orders), Advanced Glass Technologies (lower automotive production) and Diagnostic Services (lower oil price). PGMS is expected to be broadly flat with the benefit from higher average precious metal prices being offset by lower refining intakes.

Health started to benefit from new customer contracts

Health is relatively unaffected by changes in the macroeconomic environment. Sales were up in the quarter as we started to benefit from new customer contracts and orders delayed from March into April due to COVID-19.

For the full year, we expect to benefit from new customer contracts for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used in generic opioid addiction therapies as well as our continued work with innovator customers. In the first half, these benefits will be offset by the cancellation of an innovator project in the prior year. Consequently, we expect operating performance in the half to be close to the first half of the prior year.

New Markets – further progress with commercialisation of eLNO

In Battery Materials, commercialisation of eLNO® remains on track. We made further progress with customer testing and anticipate soon having five customers in full cell testing, comprising two automotive, two non-automotive and one cell manufacturer for autos. We continue to expect our first commercial plant in Konin, Poland, to be on stream in 2022 and supplying platforms in production in 2024. Fuel cells grew strongly and our investment to double our manufacturing capacity is on track and expected to be completed by the end of 2020/21.

Progress on efficiency measures in 2020/21

We are on track to deliver initial benefits of at least £30 million in 2020/21 from our recently announced efficiency initiatives, weighted to the second half. Over three years, these initiatives are expected to result in a headcount reduction of c.2,500. We have begun some consultation processes and anticipate completing around 50% of the targeted reduction within the next 12 months. We expect to deliver total annualised cost savings of c.£225 million by the end of 2022/23 and continue to evaluate ways in which we can delayer, simplify and focus the group further.

Investing for our future

We continue to invest in our strategic growth projects, consistent with our vision for a world that’s cleaner and healthier, which are expected to drive attractive returns for the group. As previously guided, we expect capex for the year to be up to £400 million.

We have a number of exciting growth opportunities including battery materials with our portfolio of eLNO cathode materials and hydrogen-based technologies. We will host a hydrogen seminar, rescheduled for 18th September, which will provide an insight into the market dynamics, our capabilities and the attractive growth prospects in this area.

Maintained strong balance sheet and liquidity

We maintained a strong balance sheet and currently have good access to liquidity of c.£1.3 billion. In the first half, we expect net debt to be higher than at 31st March 2020 due to normal seasonality and increasing activity in Clean Air. Despite the impact of COVID-19 on EBITDA, we anticipate net debt to EBITDA being well within our debt covenant³ levels.

Outlook for 2020/21

Visibility on demand remains limited and we remain unable to provide financial guidance for the year ending 31st March 2021. However, we expect operating performance will be heavily weighted to the second half with first half operating performance materially below last year, largely due to weaker activity in Clean Air.
 

Enquiries

Investor relations

Martin Dunwoodie, Director of Investor Relations 020 7269 8241

Louise Curran, Senior Investor Relations Manager 020 7269 8235

Jane Crosby, Investor Relations Manager 020 7269 8242

Media

Sally Jones, Director of Corporate Relations 020 7269 8407

Simon Pilkington, Tulchan Communications 020 7353 4200

 

Notes:
1. Unless otherwise stated, commentary in this statement is based on sales for the quarter ended 30th June 2020 and compares this quarter with the quarter ended 30th June 2019 at constant rates.
2. eLNO is a trademark of Johnson Matthey Public Limited Company.
3. Debt covenants are tested annually, with the next test based on financials for the period ending 31st March 2021.

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