Dutch electric bus maker Ebusco struggling financially

Electric bus manufacturer Ebusco reported lower sales and a more significant loss in the year's first half. This is mainly due to start-up problems and the expenditure of production work. There were also problems with finishing the buses at the Ebusco production site in Deurne.

Revenues dropped to 38 million euros from 41.7 million euros in the first six months of last year. Ebusco's bottom line was 64.7 million euros short, almost double the net loss. "As the half-year figures show, it was a disappointing start to the year," says founder Peter Bijvelds.

The Brabant company had already warned that the results would be disappointing. The business had been reorganizing and started using external producers more often. This was meant to result in cost benefits and predictable delivery times. But in June, it turned out that further cost-cutting measures were needed.

Ebusco is now seeing benefits from its cost-cutting measures. A relatively high number of employees have left the company in the last few months. Including externally hired workers, 893 people were still working at Ebusco at the end of last year. This number was down to 770 full-time employees at the end of June.