REM: World's largest wind turbine maker Vestas posts $1.7bn loss

Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, has posted a massive net loss of $1.69bn for 2022. This compares with a net profit of $153mn in 2021.

The Denmark-based wind turbine manufacturer had lower-than-expected revenues of $15.75bn, within the range of its most recent guidance of $15.5bn to $16.6bn.

The company is “fully focused on returning to profitability,” assured Vestas’ CEO, Henrik Andersen, in an earnings call. He promised “commercial discipline” as the wind company tries to return to the black. “Everyone at Vestas is therefore fully focused on returning to profitability in 2023 to reaffirm that we are on the right strategic path.”

Andersen, in a statement, described 2022 as “a business environment characterised by unforeseen geo-political uncertainty, high inflation, and supply chain constraints.”

Total investments in 2022 were $813mn (the outlook was $911mn). The value of the combined order backlog increased to $53.1bn across its power solutions and service divisions. The company had 13.3 GW of deliveries and a firm order intake of 11.2 GW in 2022.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) – a measure of profitability – came in as a loss of $469mn, compared with an EBITDA of plus $1.36bn a year earlier.

The company in 2022 had an earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT ) margin before special items of -8%, compared with an EBIT margin of 2.8% in 2021, that is an operating loss for 2022.

This was despite Vestas raising the average selling price of its onshore turbines above $1.1mn/MW, allowing an increase of incoming orders by 3% value – and despite a 19% drop in the order volume to 11.2 GW.