Swedish Eolus Vind slips to loss in Q4 FY 2011/12 despite top-line growth

Oct 30, 2012 - Swedish wind farm developer Eolus Vind AB (STO:EOLU B) said today it slipped to a net loss of SEK 25.5 million (USD 3.8m/EUR 3m) in the fourth fiscal quarter to August 2012 although revenues jumped 58% on the year to SEK 717 million.

In the year-earlier period, June-August 2011, the company posted a bottom-line profit of SEK 57 million.

The revenue increase was outweighed by a surge in cost of goods and engineering, to SEK 748.1 million from SEK 362.8 million. In addition, after the introduction of new accounting principles, the strengthening of the Swedish crown against the euro had a negative effect on the fourth-quarter operating result by SEK 36.6 million.

Consequently, the operating result deteriorated to a loss of SEK 22.4 million in June-August 2012 from a profit of SEK 88.4 million in the same period in 2011.

During the fourth quarter, Eolus Vind launched 34 wind turbines with a combined capacity of 66 MW versus 15 turbines with a capacity of 30 MW a year earlier. Electricity production from the company's wind farms increased to 20.6 GWh from 14.8 GWh, while the average income dropped to SEK 0.44 from SEK 0.76 per kWh.

In August, Eolus Vind launched a restructuring programme in a move to adjust its business to the weak market situation, which led to one-off charges of SEK 6.5 million in the fourth quarter. The planned measures, which include job cuts, concentration of operations and certain reorganisation, are expected to lead to cost savings of at least SEK 15 million a year, with clear effect from the second quarter of fiscal 2012/13.

(SEK 1.0 = USD 0.151/EUR 0.116)

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