Siemens Gamesa recorded a loss of €463m in its fiscal third quarter due to ongoing costs associated with quality issues in onshore wind.
The deficit, which was less than the €2.6bn loss in the same period last year, was also due to the “increase costs and ramp-up challenges” in offshore wind.
“In addition, recent quarter profit was negatively impacted because of the standard annual updating of the statistical models utilised for the evaluation of the entire wind turbine fleet. Changes in the estimates for new, existing and potential agreements with customers in major projects had an offsetting effect,” the company said.
Revenue for the quarter was €2.6bn, down from just over €2bn, however, orders fell to €665m, down 91% from €7.4bn.
“As expected, orders were sharply down compared to a strong prior year quarter. Onshore orders continued to be impacted by a temporary interruption of sales activities for the 4.X and 5.X turbines,” the company said.
“In addition, the offshore and service businesses reported exceptional large orders in the prior year including a single offshore order worth €2.3bn.”
Overall, parent Siemens Energy recorded a profit before special items of €69m, compared with a €41m loss a year-ago.
“Profit before Special items and the corresponding margin sharply improved as prior-year’s quarter was heavily impacted by Siemens Gamesa’s loss,” the company said.
“In addition, Siemens Energy overall showed a strong operational performance while results were held back by one-time effects from legacy projects at Gas Services and Transformation of Industry.”
Siemens Energy president and chief executive Christian Bruch said: “The rapidly growing electricity market requires a wide range of our products. Especially our grid and gas turbine businesses are benefiting from this momentum. Importantly, with growing our order backlog, we have been able to improve its margin quality as well.
“Despite all the challenges, we are optimistic about the future and after the first nine months, we are well on track to meet our full-year guidance.”