Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas made a third quarter net profit of €206m in the third quarter of 2015, up from €102m a year earlier, as the company saw the value of turbine orders rise by 50%.
Vestas’ firm and unconditional turbine orders tallied 1508MW worth €1.5bn in Q3, up from 1170MW and €1bn a year earlier. The company received turbine orders for 6275MW worth €5.8bn in the first nine months of 2015, a rise from 4290MW and €3.7bn last year.
The company said Q3 sales were exclusively onshore wind turbines, with no offshore orders booked in the quarter.
Vestas’ net profit for the year to date was €387m, up from €198m a year earlier.
In the third quarter of 2015, Vestas generated revenue of €2.12bn – an increase of 17% a year ago. The company said the value of its wind turbine order backlog amounted to €8.2bn as of 30 September.
In addition to the wind turbine order backlog, Vestas had service agreements with contractual future revenue of €8.2bn at the end of September 2015. The combined value of the order backlog and service agreements stood at €16.4bn – an increase of €3bn on a year ago.
Vestas has upgraded its 2015 guidance of revenue from a minimum €8.0bn-8.5bn from €7.5bn, with EBIT margin before special items seen at a minimum 9-10% from 8.5%, and free cash flow at €800m-€1bn from €600m.
The upgrades are based mainly on improved delivery visibility for the remainder of the year, the company said.
The company also announced a €150m share buy-back programme to adjust capital structure and to meet the obligations arising from employee share option programmes or other allocations of shares to employees.
Vestas chief executive Anders Runevad said: “With greater clarity on deliveries for the remainder of the year and a very solid financial position, we are raising our guidance on revenue, EBIT margin, and free cash flow and initiating a share buy-back programme.
“I am very pleased that year-on-year for orders, Vestas is growing in all regions, consistent with our profitable growth strategy.”
Image: V164 wind turbine nacelle (Vestas)
