Vestas Reports Strong Q1 Profit as Offshore Wind Turbine Production Increases
Vestas Q1 Financial Performance and Market Outlook
First-Quarter Profit and Sales Growth
May 6 (Reuters) - Danish wind turbine maker Vestas reported on Wednesday a bigger rise than expected in first-quarter profit as its ramp-up of production for the offshore sector gained pace, and said it still expects sales to rise this year.
Vestas warned of uncertainty around geopolitical developments and trade tariffs but repeated guidance given in February for a full-year operating profit margin before special items of 6%-8% on sales of between 20 billion and 22 billion euros. In 2025, the margin was 5.7% on sales of 18.8 billion euros.
Challenges and Strategic Priorities
The group, which has struggled in recent years with supply chain disruptions, cost inflation and offshore ramp-up costs, is seeking to turn a record backlog into higher margins while facing U.S. wind policy and trade tariff uncertainty.
Operating Profit and Margin Expansion
In the first quarter, operating profit before special items rose to 127 million euros ($149 million) from a year-earlier 14 million against a mean forecast of 71 million in an analyst poll shared by Vestas, and the margin widened to 3.2% from 0.4% .
"We achieved the highest first-quarter profitability since 2018," CEO Henrik Andersen said in a statement. "The current geopolitical uncertainty and energy crisis underline the need for affordable, secure, and sustainable energy."
Offshore Wind Turbine Production and Orders
Sales in the quarter, the seasonally slowest of the year for the sector, rose 14% to 3.97 billion euros, slightly above expectations. Vestas said the rise was driven by sales of offshore turbines as its ramp-up of production gained pace.
Order intake increased slightly less than expected, to 4.50 gigawatts (GW) from 3.14 GW, driven by onshore orders across regions and especially strong offshore activity.
Share Buyback and Additional Information
Vestas said it would buy back 100 million euros worth of shares.
($1 = 0.8524 euros)
(Reporting by Jesus Calero, editing by Anna Ringstrom)
