COPENHAGEN (dpa-AFX) - Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWDRY.PK) reported Wednesday that its first-quarter profit fell to 25 million euros from 102 million euros in the year-ago period, driven by lower operating profit. Earnings per share were 3.0 euros, down from 4.3 euros last year.
Profit before tax dropped to 34 million euros from 137 million euros a year ago.
Earnings before interest and tax or EBIT decreased to 43 million euros from 126 million euros last year. The EBIT margin was 2.5 percent, compared to 7.4 percent a year ago, driven by the decrease in gross margin and higher capacity costs.
EBITDA margin declined to 9.8 percent from 13.3 percent last year.
In the first quarter, Vestas generated revenue of 1.73 billion euros, up 2 percent from 1.69 billion euros in the prior-year period.
The intake of firm and unconditional wind turbine orders amounted to 3,004 MW in the quarter. The value of the combined backlog of wind turbine orders and service agreements stood at 28.3 billion euros, an increase of 6.7 billion euros compared to the year-earlier period.
Looking ahead to fiscal 2019, Vestas maintained its outlook for revenue of 10.75 billion euros to 12.25 billion euros, EBIT margin before special items of 8 percent to 10 percent, and total investments of about 700 million euros.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX