German wind turbine maker Nordex (ETR:NDX1) today reported a net loss of EUR 35 million (USD 39m) for the first quarter of 2019, widening from EUR 19.4 million a year earlier, and said that business in the three months was as forecast by the group.
The company has been prepared for weaker sales in the first half, but it expects an increase in installations globally and much higher sales in the second half of 2019.
Nordex installed 84 turbines with a total capacity of 260.9 MW in the first quarter, or half the 523 MW recorded a year earlier. Latin America accounted for 64% of that. The drop, attributable to the installation schedules of customer projects, led to 24% lower sales in the Projects division that stood at EUR 312.3 million. Still, sales in the Service segment grew by 11% to EUR 87.4 million.
The company confirms its 2019 guidance, which is available in the last column of the following table.
| Results in EUR million, unless specified |
Q1 2019 |
Q1 2018 |
2019 guidance |
| Sales |
398.9 |
487.9 |
3,200-3,500 |
| Gross revenue |
583.6 |
384.3 |
N/A |
| EBITDA |
3.3 |
20 |
N/A |
| EBITDA margin |
0.8% |
4.1% |
3%-5% |
| EBIT (loss) |
(30.4) |
(16.5) |
N/A |
| Free cash flow (negative) |
(76.3) |
(84.3) |
N/A |
| Consolidated net profit (loss) |
(35) |
(19.4) |
N/A |
| Working capital ratio |
(1.5)% |
4.8% |
under 2% |
| Orders secured in Projects segment |
1,035.1 MW |
1,007.5 MW |
N/A |
Wind turbine production in the quarter jumped to 698 MW from 347 MW and Nordex also boosted production of rotor blades to 300 units from 180 units. It said its production output will continue to grow this year.
At the end of March, the company’s order book had reached EUR 4.4 billion in the Projects segment, up from EUR 2.7 billion a year ago, and EUR 2.2 billion in the Service segment. In Projects, 49% of the order book originated in Europe, 25% in Latin America and 8% in North America.
“We are working to steadily reduce the cost of energy and will continue to expand our supply chain in countries with attractive cost structures and increase our production capacity,” said Nordex SE CEO José Luis Blanco.
(EUR 1 = USD 1.12)
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Nordex's N149/4.0-4.5 turbine. Source: Nordex SE
