Vestas Wind Systems A/S sees its free cash flow improved by €535M in Q2 2013

22-8-2013 — /EuropaWire/ — Interim financial report, second quarter 2013

Summary

Two-year turnaround continues according to plan. Free cash flow improved by EUR 535m and outlook upgraded to at least EUR 200m. Positive EBIT result despite 26 per cent lower revenue. Anders Runevad appointed as new Group President & CEO.

In the second quarter of 2013, Vestas generated revenue of EUR 1,185m – a decrease of 26 per cent to the year-earlier period. EBIT before special items decreased by EUR 28m to EUR 12m. The EBIT margin before special items was 1.0 per cent and the free cash flow increased by EUR 535m to EUR 197m.

The intake of firm and unconditional wind turbine orders was 1,641 MW in the second quarter of 2013. Due to uncertainty surrounding a few customers’ ability to comply with the contractual obligations, Vestas has resolved to lower the order backlog value by EUR 0.4bn. Including this adjustment, the value of the wind turbine backlog amounted to EUR 7.1bn at 30 June 2013. In addition to the wind turbine order backlog, Vestas had service agreements with contractual future revenue of EUR 5.9bn at the end of June 2013. Thus the value of the combined backlog of wind turbine orders and service agreements stood at EUR 13bn – an improvement of EUR 600m during the quarter.

Vestas has decided not to sell the tower factory in Pueblo, USA. Consequently, the factory has been reclassified to property, plant and equipment. Vestas’ machining and casting units are still expected to be divested; however, based on ongoing negotiations with potential buyers, the units have been further written down.

Today, Vestas has appointed Anders Runevad as new Group President & CEO of Vestas Wind Systems A/S as from 1 September 2013.

Press and analyst information meeting

For analysts, investors and the media, an information meeting will be held today, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 at 10 a.m. CEST (9 a.m. BST).

The information meeting can only be attended electronically via vestas.com/investor, 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 from vestas.com/investor.

Contact details

Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Denmark
Lars Villadsen, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations
Tel.: +45 9730 0000