Vestas Beats Profit, Revenue Views After Record Order Intake — Update

By Christian Moess Laursen

Vestas Wind Systems beat market expectations as it swung to a full-year pretax profit, boosted by its highest-ever quarterly order intake, and said it sees higher revenue in 2024.

The Danish wind-turbine maker said Wednesday that it swung to a fourth-quarter pretax profit of 173 million euros ($186.1 million) from a loss of EUR480 million in the same quarter a year prior, beating market views in a company-compiled consensus of EUR138 million.

Revenue came in largely flat at EUR4.77 billion in the quarter from EUR4.78 billion, but beat consensus of EUR4.58 billion. The slight dip on year was due to lower delivery volumes, while a decline in service revenue was offset by higher turbine prices, the company said.

For the full year, Vestas comfortably met its revenue target, booking EUR15.38 billion versus a EUR14.5 billion-EUR15.5 billion range, thanks to increases in turbine prices, stable volumes as well as growth in its service business.

The company achieved a quarterly order intake of 8.2 gigawatts--a record for Vestas--driven by strong onshore activity in the U.S and positive momentum in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, taking the full-year intake to 18.4 gigawatts. The fourth-quarter intake amounted to EUR8.2 billion, compared with EUR4.8 billion in the same quarter a year prior.

Orders were heavily weighted toward onshore wind, contributing 7.47 gigawatts and rising 78% on onshore orders a year before, while offshore orders totaled 780 megawatts.

While performance was helped by an improving business environment, continued geopolitical volatility, slow permitting and insufficient grid build-out across markets are expected to cause uncertainty in 2024, it said.

"Permitting in some markets, such as Germany and the U.K., is improving but overall permitting, auctions and grid remain challenging," Chief Executive Officer Henrik Andersen said in a call with analysts.

The Aarhus-based company expects to post higher revenue in 2024, aiming for EUR16 billion to EUR18 billion, while targeting an adjusted EBIT margin of between 4% and 6% and total investments of around EUR1.2 billion.

Write to Christian Moess Laursen at christian.moess@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 07, 2024 05:35 ET (10:35 GMT)

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