Offshore Wind Energy Major Ørsted Posts Strong Q1 Numbers

Ørsted has released its interim report for Q1 2020, reporting an operating profit of DKK 6.8 billion up 33 percent over the same quarter last year.

Global offshore wind energy leader, Ørsted has released its interim report for the first quarter (Q1) of 2020. The firm has reported an operating profit (EBITDA) of DKK 6.8 billion (USD 0.99 Bn), witnessing a growth of 33 percent over the same quarter last year.

According to the financial results, earnings from offshore and onshore wind farms in operation increased by 25 percent to DKK 5.2 billion driven by ramp-up of generation from Hornsea 1, Lockett, and Sage Draw. Furthermore, we had high wind speeds in Europe throughout Q1 2020. Net profit amounted to DKK 3.3 billion and return on capital employed (ROCE) came in at 11 percent. Furthermore, the green share of its heat and power generation increased from 80 percent to a new high of 90 percent.

Henrik Poulsen, CEO and President of Ørsted, said “despite the COVID-19 crisis and its profound impact on societies around the world, we have had a very good start to the year with strong financial results and solid operational performance across the entire business. We activated our Corporate Crisis Management Organisation in early March to steer Ørsted through the global COVID-19 crisis. Our focus has been on the health and well-being of our employees and their families and the communities we are part of. During the last couple of months, our asset base has been fully operational with availability rates for our wind farms and power stations within the normal range.”

Further adding that in March, the firm commissioned the 338 MW onshore wind farm Sage Draw in the US. And that its construction projects all remain on track. However, across its projects, it is now witnessing an increased risk of component and service delays from suppliers impacted by COVID-19.

“We collaborate closely together with our partners to mitigate these situations as best possible and without compromising health and safety standards. Based on our current outlook, we believe the COVID-19 related impact on our construction projects will be limited both in terms of timing and economics,” Poulsen said.

On the back of a string quarter, the company has announced that on March 4, 2020, it increased its EBITDA (business performance) guidance from DKK 15-16 billion to DKK 16-17 billion due to updated assumptions regarding the divestment of the transmission asset for Hornsea 1.

“At this point in time, we have no indication that the COVID-19 situation will significantly impact our earnings for the year, and thus we re-iterate our most recent EBITDA guidance of DKK 16-17 billion in 2020. We also re-iterate our expectation of gross investments of DKK 30-32 billion in 2020,” the firm stated.