Nordex has reported a significant drop in profitability in the first half of 2022.
The turbine manufacturer reported an EBITDA loss of €173.3m, compared to EBITDA of €68.4m in the comparable period in 2021.
Nordex said that its business performance in the first six months of 2022 was in line with expectations, with sales decreasing to €2.1bn as a result of fewer installations (H1 2021: €2.7bn).
The decline in the second quarter was mainly driven by low installation figures outside Europe and Latin America, the directors said.
The indirect effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine also remained clearly visible in the operating results as reflected by the upheaval in the energy, raw materials and logistics markets, they added.
This corresponds to an EBITDA margin of minus 8.1% (H1 2021: 2.5%).
Adjusted for the costs for footprint reconfiguration, the EBITDA stood at minus €143.7m with minus 6.8% EBITDA margin.
Nordex increased its order intake in the Projects segment (i.e. excluding services) by 7.9% to 3GW in the first six months of 2022 (H1 2021: 2.8GW), which corresponds to new orders worth €2,357m after €1,962m in the previous year.
Of this order intake (in MW), 70% was attributable to Europe, 23% to Latin America and 7% to North America.
At the end of the first half of the year, the Nordex Group’s order book increased considerably by 26% to stand at €9.7bn (H1 2021: €7.7bn).
This consisted of €6.7bn (H1 2021: EUR 4.8bn) in the Projects segment and €3.1bnn (H1 2021: €2.9bn) in the Service segment.
In addition, production in turbine assembly fell by 5.5% in the first half of 2022, from 3105MW in the first half of 2021 to 2935MW.
The number of rotor blades produced rose to 2,162 (H1/2021: 2,028), of which Nordex itself produced 573 (H1/2021: 819) while 1589 rotor blades were sourced from external suppliers (H1/2021: 1,209).
The Nordex Group installed 416 wind turbines in 16 countries with a total output of 1.9GW in the first six months of 2022 (H1 2021: 775 wind turbines in 21 countries with a total output of 3GW).
Of the installations carried out in the period under review (in MW), 75% were attributable to Europe, 19% to Latin America and 6% to North America.
This decrease had a considerable impact on sales in the Projects segment, which fell from €2,484m to €1,902m in the first half of the year.
Sales in the Service segment rose slightly by 4.4% to €226.3m in the first half of the year (H1 2021: €216.8m).
Nordex chief executive José Luis Blanco said: “With markets remaining challenging, our business performance in the second quarter was as expected.
“In this environment, we nevertheless succeeded in significantly strengthening our capital structure.
“We continue to see a strong order book and have a competitive product portfolio. We are therefore confident that we will benefit from the positive growth prospects of our industry in the mid-term.”