Troubled battery recycler Li-Cycle announced a jobs cull and cost cuts as it battles to steady the company’s financial fortunes. Several senior executives are leaving the company immediately, along with 60 other employees.
The executive chair Tim Johnston becomes interim non-executive board chair and the AGM to be held in May is expected to find an independent chair.
Debbie Simpson, CFO, is leaving the Canadian company “to pursue new opportunities”, as is Richard Storrie, Li-Cycle’s regional president for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The company is planning to reduce headcount by around 60 positions, some 17% of the workforce. That will incur charges of around $8.3 million over the next year, but will save $10 million in payroll and benefit cost savings on an annualised basis, it said.
In comes Craig Cunningham as interim CFO. Most recently, he was CFO at Electra Battery Materials. Dawei Li, who has been with Li-Cycle since July 2021, assumes the new role of CCO. Conor Spollen, an employee since January 2022, becomes COO.
Ajay Kochhar, Li-Cycle president and CEO, said: “We are recalibrating our organisational structure to better align with the more focused priorities of Li-Cycle.”
It is undertaking a comprehensive review and ‘cash preservation plan’. Last month, its partner, Swiss commodities company Glencore, made a $75 million strategic investment. The cash is a stop gap that keeps the company going while it seeks longer term funding and tries to contain costs at its Rochester recycling hub in the US.
