Vestas shares slide as wind turbine giant misses 2009 target

Vestas, the world's largest wind turbine maker, saw its share price slide eight per cent yesterday after confirming that despite a better than expected performance during the last three months of the year it missed its 2009 full-year revenue target by over €500m.

The company posted sales of €6.64bn during 2009, well short of its initial forecast of €7.2bn. It blamed delays to financing for many wind farm projects for the shortfall, arguing that the poor investment environment had led to slower than expected orders.

However, the company still saw overall sales climb by over 10 per cent on the €6bn earned in 2008, while controversial restructuring measures that saw the company close a number of facilities in Europe helped ensure pre-tax profits for 2009 stood at €809m, up around 13 per cent on last year's €714m.

Executives also said the outlook for 2010 had improved significantly, and the company forecast that orders will triple to over 8GW during the coming year.

Ditlev Engel, chief executive of Vestas, said the recession had had the dual effect of tightening capital and depressing energy prices – making fossil fuels cheaper and thus deterring investment in wind.

But he remained confident the company was well positioned for growth during 2010. "Our vision that wind is going to be a source of energy on a par with oil and gas is on track," he said. "The interest in using wind around the world is increasing."

Engel said Vestas expected to receive orders worth €2.2bn this year, of which about a third would come from the US, about half from Europe and a fifth from Asia.

He added that the company was completing production facilities in the US and China, which would mean that by the end of the year it would boast the ability to produce around 10GW worth of turbines a year.

Last year, Vestas closed its only UK factory on the Isle of Wight and Engel said a decision would not be made on whether to open any other factories until at least 2014, when the firm had a clearer view of the offshore wind market.

Last month, India's Suzlon, a chief rival of Vestas, announced that it had 1.5GW in orders for 2010.

The Global Wind Energy Council said last week that wind power capacity grew by 31 per cent in 2009, adding 37.5 GW to bring total installations up to 157.9 GW. A third of this new capacity was added in China, which is fast emerging as one of the world's leading wind energy markets.