US company Broadwind Energy made a loss of almost $11m in the first half of the year, down from a profit of over $5.5m in the same period last year.
The company said the drop was mainly down to low capacity utilisation at its tower plants following a “near shutdown at year-end 2017 as a major customer rebalanced inventory”.
Revenue was down to almost $66.75m in the first six months of 2018, from over $99.42m in 2017 as a result of lower sales in the towers and heavy fabrication business segment.
Orders also fell in the towers and heavy fabrication unit to over $17.31m from more than $30.57m.
However, the company had improved figures in its gearing business, which reported revenue of just under $17.44m from January to the end of June, up from over $9.94m last year.
Orders in this segment were also up to $21.51m from $18.96m in 2017.
Broadwind chief executive Stephanie Kushner said: “While tower orders have improved since a year ago, we believe the impact of steel tariffs has caused domestic steel prices to spike, which has caused some customers to delay placing orders or shift their tower procurement to overseas fabricators.
“We believe our tower locations are positioned well and our efficient operations will help mitigate this risk.”
Image: Broadwind Energy
Broadwind losses mount
By EBS