The Nordex Group’s operating margin (EBITDA margin) is now expected to be at the lower end of the guidance range issued on 24 May 2022 at around minus 4 percent. This is mainly due to the current market environment, issues with supply chain reliability and thus project delays.
The Nordex Group increased sales compared to previous quarters to EUR 1.7 billion during the third quarter. Based on the first nine months of the 2022 financial year sales was at EUR 3.9 billion almost at the same level of the previous year (9M 2021: EUR 4.0 billion). Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) amounted to minus EUR 200 million (9M 2021: EUR 101 million), resulting in an EBITDA margin of minus 5.2 percent (9M 2021: 2.5 percent). These figures were hampered by the persistently strong inflationary environment and supply chain disruption in particular. The latest improving selling prices for new incoming orders will start to have a positive impact after some time next year.
In the first three quarters of 2022, order intake in the Projects segment (excluding services) came to 4.4 GW (9M 2021: 4.6 GW); this corresponds to a value of EUR 3.6 billion (9M 2021: EUR 3.2 billion). The average selling price (ASP) per megawatt of output in the third quarter was up 32 percent on the prior-year period at EUR 0.91 million. Of the new orders, 69 percent were attributable to Europe, 26 percent to Latin America and 5 percent to North America. By the end of September 2022, the Nordex Group had an order book of nearly EUR 9.7 billion (9M 2021: EUR 8.0 billion), of which EUR 6.5 billion (9M 2021: EUR 5.0 billion) relates to the Projects segment and EUR 3.1 billion (9M 2021: EUR 3.0 billion) to the Service segment.
In the first nine months of 2022 the Nordex Group slightly increased its production output of turbines, expanding it from 4.8 GW in the previous year to 4.9 GW. The total manufacturing output of rotor blades amounted to 3,357 units (9M 2021: 3,120 blades) of which the company produced 879 blades in its own plants (9M 2021: 1,242 blades) and 2,478 blades were sourced by external suppliers according to Nordex’s specifications (9M/2021: 1,878 blades).
Despite some instability within its supply chains, the Nordex Group installed a total of 791 wind turbines in 17 countries with a total output of 3.6 GW during the first nine months of 2022 (9M 2021: 1,216 wind turbines in 22 countries with a total output of 4.9 GW). Europe accounted for around 74 percent of installations, while non-European markets accounted for approximately 26 percent. These installations generated EUR 3.5 billion in sales for the Projects segment during the reporting period (9M 2021: EUR 3.6 billion). Sales in the Service segment amounted to EUR 398 million as of the end of September (9M 2021: EUR 332 million).