Vestas retains bullish outlook despite hiring slowdown

Vestas, the world's largest wind turbine, has today announced that it is to call a temporary halt to the recruitment spree that has seen staff numbers soar from 5,000 to 20,000 this year, as it braces itself for the credit crunch to lead to a slowdown in the wind sector's stellar growth rates.

Releasing its financial results for the third quarter, the Danish company said that while it still expected sales to increase 25 per cent next year to €7.2bn (£5.8bn), its current workforce and cost base was geared to a level activity about 15 per cent higher.

Speaking on a conference call, Vestas president and chief executive Ditlev Engel said that the sector's strong long term growth prospects meant that no lay offs were planned, but he added that the company would now delay some planned appointments.

The company said that it expected some potential wind farm projects to be hit by tightening credit conditions and the relatively low price of oil.

"The reason the projected sales growth for next year is only 25 per cent is that some of our customers with good projects suddenly found their bank had disappeared," said Engel. "If it weren't for that the projected growth could have been higher than 25 per cent."

However, he insisted that the company was well positioned to weather any slowdown and argued that the long term prospects for the wind industry remained strong, particularly in the wake of Barack Obama's election victory.

The company's share price rose about one per cent after it announced solid results for the third quarter, largely in line with expectations that saw earnings climb 57 per cent year-on-year to €160m and revenues jump 52 per cent to €1.8bn.