Interim financial report - second quarter and first half year 2012
8/22/2012 2:30 AM EST
Vestas Wind Systems A/S
Half Year financial report
Interim financial report - second quarter and first half year 2012
2012 outlook for EBIT, revenue and cash flow retained. Preparation for 2013
intensifies with additional redundancies of 1,400 employees.
Aarhus, Denmark, 2012-08-22 08:30 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
Summary
Vestas generated revenue of EUR 1,611m in the second quarter of 2012 – an
increase of 15 per cent to the year-earlier period. EBIT before special items
declined by 48 per cent to EUR 40m. The EBIT margin before special items was
2.5 per cent – an improvement of 21 percentage points compared to the
loss-making first quarter 2012. EBIT after special items was EUR 18m. The free
cash flow decreased to EUR (338)m from EUR (63)m in the second quarter of
2011.For the first half of 2012, the free cash flow was EUR 139m lower than in
the first half of 2011. The net debt at 30 June 2012 amounted to EUR 1,147m; an
increase of 7 per cent compared to the end of June 2011. The intake of firm and
unconditional orders was 945 MW in the second quarter of 2012 and the value of
the backlog of firm and unconditional orders amounted to EUR 9.6bn at 30 June
2012. In addition to the turbine order backlog, Vestas had service agreements
with contractual future revenue of EUR 4.8bn at the end of June 2012, and thus
the value of the combined backlog of turbine orders and service agreements
stood at EUR 14.4bn – the highest level ever recorded. The high safety level at
Vestas’ workplaces was maintained and the share of renewable energy increased
to 52 per cent.
Vestas retains its full-year guidance of an EBIT margin of 0-4 per cent before
special items, revenue of EUR 6,500-8,000m and a positive free cash flow.
However among other things due to a lower order intake in the first half year
and delays of grid connections in China, shipments are now expected to amount
to approx 6.3 GW against the previous expectation of approx 7 GW. Investments
are now expected to be EUR 450m against the previous guidance of EUR 550m. Due
to a lower cost base, expectations for the service EBIT margin before
allocation of Group costs are raised to 17 per cent.
In order to make sure that Vestas will be profitable with an expected
manufacturing level (shipments) of around 5 GW in 2013, Vestas now intensifies
the adjustment of the organisation. Consequently, Vestas now expects the number
of employees at year-end to be around 19,000 against the previous guidance of
20,400. This will contribute to a fixed cost reduction of more than EUR 250m
with full effect as from the end of 2012. As a consequence of the intensified
redundancy plan, special items are now expected to amount to EUR 75-125m.
Vestas has initiated a process to identify outsourcing opportunities and also
seeks to involve its suppliers in larger parts of the supply chain than is the
case today. The intention is to further increase the manufacturing flexibility
and to reduce Vestas’ capital requirement.
Vestas expects to realise savings of approx EUR 30m (EBIT impact) in 2012
related to the ongoing product cost-out program. Savings will be realised late
in the year and Vestas expects the savings to increase significantly in 2013.
As announced on 31 July 2012, Vestas has agreed with its lenders to defer the
half-year 2012 testing of the financial covenants contained in Vestas’ banking
facilities. Furthermore, the lenders have allowed drawings, which in the
opinion of Vestas are sufficient for the continued operation of Vestas on usual
terms as the company expects to test on normal terms in the future.
Press and analyst meeting
For analysts, investors and the media, an information meeting will be held
today,
Wednesday, 22 August 2012 at 10 a.m. CEST (9 a.m. BST) at Vestas’ Headquarters
at Hedeager 44, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark.
The information meeting will be held in English and webcast live with
simultaneous interpretation into Danish via vestas.com/investor.
The meeting may be attended electronically, and questions may be asked through
a conference call.
The telephone numbers for the conference call are:
Europe: +44 208 817 9301
USA: +1 718 354 1226
Denmark: +45 7026 5040
A replay of the information meeting will subsequently be available on
vestas.com/investor.
Contact details
Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Denmark
Lars Villadsen, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations
Tel.: +45 9730 0000
Attachments
Interim financial report - second quarter and first half year 2012
Shareholder information 2/2012
Vestas' track record as of 30 June 2012