Nordex has announced a big increase in sales and profit in the third quarter of 2015 helped by falling costs and rising demand in Europe and South Africa.
Orders have gone up by 57% and the performance has led the German company Nordex to raise its sales target for 2015 by roughly 15% from €1.9-2.1bn to between €2.3bn and €2.4bn.
Orders on hand climbed by 32% which, the company said in a statement, “provide the underpinnings for the expected growth in the first half of 2016.”
Nordex chief executive Lars Bondo Krogsgaard revealed the company plans to expand further.
He said: “We are currently growing more quickly than the wind power industry as a whole. This is due to our focus on the right markets, products and services. To ensure that we remain on this course of expansion in the long term, we have now decided to substantially strengthen our business by combining our activities with those of Acciona Windpower.”
The business combination is subject to clearance by the competition authorities.
Global sales for the first nine months of 2015 rose by 41% on the same period last year to €1.786bn.
Europe and South Africa accounted for 88% of total sales with the remaining 12% coming from the Americas.
In the quarter ending 30 September sales were up by over 50% to €685.8m, from €451.2m in the same period in 2014.
Earnings before interest and tax went up by almost 63% to €97.6m in the first nine months of 2015. On a quarterly basis EBIT rose to €36.1m, up from €22.8m in the third quarter of 2014.
Economies of scale helped Nordex reduce costs. Structural costs went up slower than sales which helped consolidated profit rise by 62% to €45.4m in the nine months to 30 September, compared to €28m in the same period in 2014.Other positive economic factors contributing to the overall performance of the group included liquidity improving by 17%, total assets up by 19% and a positive rise in the working capital ratio.
Nordex will report on its medium-term outlook and strategic orientation at a capital markets day taking place tomorrow in Frankfurt.
Image: Wind turbines in France (Nordex)
