Danish clean energy group Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) today confirmed its full-year guidance for EBITDA excluding earnings from new partnerships despite a lower first-quarter operating profit that was in line with expectations.
The offshore wind major booked earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of DKK 6.9 billion (USD 1.02bn/EUR 925.6m), marking a 27% drop from the previous year when its performance was positively impacted by a gain associated with the 50% farm-downs of Hornsea 2 and Borkum Riffgrund 3 projects. Excluding new partnerships, EBITDA slipped by 12% in annual terms.
In the offshore segment, total EBITDA contracted by 9% resulting from the gain in the year-ago period, whereas earnings from offshore wind sites, operations and maintenance and power purchase agreements rose by 58% to DKK 5.86 billion thanks to increased power generation and the lack of hedging effects that occurred in the first quarter of 2022.
At DKK 29.36 billion, revenues fell by 13% on the year due to the decrease in power prices across all markets and the lower gas volume sales. About three-quarters of the total came from the offshore wind segment, which contributed DKK 22.14 billion.
| Amounts in DKK | Q1 2023 | Q1 2022 |
| Revenue | 29.37bn | 33.76bn |
| — Offshore | 22.14bn | 19.81bn |
| — Onshore | 721m | 690m |
| — Bioenergy & Other | 6.89bn | 14.47bn |
| EBITDA | 6.91bn | 9.43bn |
|
EBITDA excl. New partnerships |
6.91bn | 7.82bn |
| Profit (loss) for the period | 3.20bn | 5.70bn |
| Gross investments | (8.77bn) | (6.83bn) |
EBITDA excl. New partnerships
“We’re pleased with the Q1 2023 results where our offshore sites earnings are back on track as the key EBITDA driver,” said president and CEO Mads Nipper.
The Danish group closed the trimester with 8.9 GW of installed offshore wind capacity and 4.5 GW of onshore wind and solar assets. The output of these facilities totalled 8.9 GWh in the first quarter, rising 16% from a year earlier following the ramp-up of generation from the Hornsea 2 in the UK and Greater Changhua 1 & 2a offshore projects in Taiwan.
Ørsted reiterated its forecast for EBITDA excluding new partnership agreements of between DKK 20 billion and DKK 23 billion in 2023. Earnings from the offshore segment are expected to be significantly higher than the DKK 8.6 billion booked in 2022, whereas those from onshore are projected in line with the DKK-3.6-billion result in 2022. Gross investments in 2023 are seen at between DKK 50 billion and DKK 54 billion.
(DKK 1.0 = USD 0.148/EUR 0.134)
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