Wind-turbine producer Vestas maintains full year growth expectations

Danish wind-turbine manufacturer Vestas on Wednesday maintained its full year growth expectations for 2015 after posting strong operating profit for the first half of the year.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) before special items for the first half year 2015 stood at 224 million euros, up 55.5 percent from 144 million euros for the same period last year, it said in the interim financial report.

For the second quarter alone, EBIT before special items increased by 41 million euros to 145 million euros, which was mainly driven by the higher gross profit and lower depreciation and amortisation.

The second-quarter revenues amounted to 1.749 billion euros, up 30 percent from 1.341 billion euros, year-on-year.

The intake of firm and unconditional wind turbine orders increased 56.2 percent to 3018 megawatts in the second quarter of 2015.

The value of the combined backlog of wind turbine orders and service agreements stood at 16.9 billion euros as of June 30, 2015, an increase of 3 billion euros as compared to the same period last year.

Vestas maintained its 2015 outlook, saying it expects a revenue of minimum 7.5 billion euros.

Besides, EBIT margin before special items is expected at minimum 8.5 percent with the service margin remaining stable, and total investments are expected to amount to approx 350 million euro while free cash flow is expected to amount to minimum 600 million euros. Enditem