Vestas to close Spanish assembly plant employing 362

Danish wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S (CPH:VWS) today said it has decided to close its assembly plant in Leon, Spain in order to adjust its manufacturing footprint to regional demand.

All 362 employees at the factory will be affected. The company will enter negotiations with local works councils and it expects to finalise that process within 30 days. It will consider different options, including the relocation of some employees to other manufacturing and service sites Vestas has in Spain, and opportunities outside the company, through an outplacement plan.

Vestas explained that demand for its 2-MW wind turbine platform in Europe is falling. It has also determined that it can meet demand for the 4-MW platform in the region by utilising less capacity than currently available at nacelles plants in Europe and other regions where Vestas has recently established production capacity.

The financial cost of discontinuing production in Leon will translate mainly into the write down of land and buildings. Vestas said it will record such costs as special items in the third quarter of 2018.

Apart from the assembly plant in Leon, the Danish company also has generator and blades factories in Viviero and Daimiel, respectively. At the latter site, Vestas is investing in capacity for the production of blades for its V150-4.2 MW machine.

As of mid-2018, the company had roughly 2,000 employees in Spain.

Vestas’ profit for the first half of 2018 fell to EUR 286 million (USD 332m) from EUR 346 million a year earlier.

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