PNE's 9-mo op profit rockets by 167% y/y

PNE AG (ETR:PNE3), the German renewables developer that focuses on wind power, today reported an operating profit (EBIT) of EUR 9.9 million (USD 11m) for the first nine months of 2019, up by 167.6% on the year.

Despite the surge in earnings before interest and tax, the company, which is targeted by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP) with a takeover offer of EUR 4.00 per share, posted an expanded loss for the period of EUR 5.5 million compared to EUR 2 million a year earlier.

The table below shows key figures from PNE’s nine-month financial report.

"With these results, we are well on schedule for the year as a whole. Accordingly, we again confirm our goal of generating clearly positive EBITDA in the range of EUR 25 to 30 million and EBIT in the range of EUR 15 to 20 million within the group in the entire year," commented CEO Markus Lesser.

The company said that during the reporting period it completed four wind farms in Germany, France and Sweden with a combined capacity of 72.5 MW and is currently building seven wind parks in Germany, Poland and Sweden totalling 331.7 MW. PNE estimates it will invest between EUR 565 million and EUR 727 million in those combined 404 MW of capacity.

PNE is also progressing the setting up of its "wind farm portfolio 2020", which now includes 95.7 MW of assets already in operation or under construction. The target size of the bundle is 200 MW. Meanwhile, the company said it is examining in detail numerous markets, with particular attention to Germany, France, Romania and Italy, for opportunities in the solar photovoltaic (PV) field.

Overall, as at September 30, 2019, PNE had 4,997 MW of onshore wind projects in its pipeline, including 3,952 MW in the exploration and development phase and 999 MW in planning. At that date it was implementing 41 MW of schemes in Germany, according to its financial report.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.109)

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