Isra-Mart srl:Vestas upbeat for year ahead despite "tough" 2010

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Isra-Mart srl news:

Vestas has today announced it is "on track" to hit its financial targets for 2011, releasing annual results that aim to draw a line under a difficult 2010 which saw the Danish wind turbine maker lay off 3,000 employees.

The bellwether renewables firm confirmed in its annual report today that orders rose by 182 per cent to 8,673 MW in 2010 compared to 2009, equating to a €5.4bn increase in value and providing it with a healthy pipeline for the year ahead.

The company also confirmed that it swung back into profit for the fourth quarter of 2010, buoyed by record high deliveries of just over 2.5GW of turbines.

The increase in final quarter deliveries boosted its overall 2010 revenue by 36 per cent, to €6.9bn, compared to €5.1m in 2009.

Vestas chief executive Ditlev Engel and chairman of the board Bent Erik Carlsen said in the report that its largest ever order book has put the company back "on track" despite a difficult year.

"2010 was a tough year, because two people employed by our business partners were killed in industrial injuries; we had to make a profit warning and lay off some three thousand colleagues; a change in our accounting policies caused uncertainty; the outlook for 2011 was a disappointment, and the share price was down by almost 50 per cent in the warmest year recorded for more than a hundred years," they said.

"But Vestas is on track, because our customers and their banks still appreciate our products and services; our order intake was the largest ever."

The company reconfirmed its prediction that 2011 will yield similar results to 2010, forecasting revenue of around €7bn, although that figure is slightly higher than analyst predictions. Bloomberg said a survey of 30 analysts predicted 2011 revenue will reach just €6.76bn.

"Revenue and earnings are expected to be fairly evenly distributed between the first and the second half of the year," Vestas said in a statement. "For the first quarter, Vestas forecasts a minor loss. The free cash flow is still expected to be positive, even though investments are now expected to amount to €850m against the previous forecast of €650m."

The results will fuel confidence that the renewables sector is poised for growth following a tough few years during which the global recession led to a slowdown in orders.

The sector received further good news as French renewable energy giant EDF Energies Nouvelles today announced that it expects pre-tax earnings to rise at least 23 per cent during 2011 to €560m (£476m).

Meanwhile, Norwegian solar energy specialist Renewable Energy Corp (REC) reported revenue for the full year 2010 amounted to NOK 13,776m (£1.5m), an increase of 56 per cent from 2009. The company also said it plans to raise production of granular polysilicon by six per cent this year to helkp combat supply bottlenecks.