Orsted Keeps Profit Guidance Despite Weak 3Q Result
(Bloomberg) -- Orsted A/S confirmed its full-year profit guidance, seeking to reassure investors of its financial stability after a weak third quarter.
Orsted had already slashed its annual guidance in September, and third-quarter earnings again fell short of expectations. The company also recorded a 1.8 billion Danish kroner ($277 million) net charge linked to US tariffs and the temporary halt of its Revolution Wind project near Rhode Island.
Orsted is pushing to deliver on a turnaround after its US ambitions backfired, resulting in a string of expensive failures. The company’s troubles deepened when the Trump administration intervened to stall offshore wind development, briefly halting one of its flagship projects until a court cleared the way forward. Having weathered those setbacks, Orsted aims to complete two major US wind farms before turning its attention back to Europe, where it sees stronger prospects for growth.
The company maintained that its portfolio of projects, including the two wind farms under construction in the US, are progressing on schedule. The Revolution Wind farm is now 85% complete and is set to finish in the second half of next year.
“Today’s results were weak - however we expect these numbers to be of less interest to investors given the broader context for the stock, with regulatory developments in the US a more relevant driver of the share price currently,” Deepa Venkateswaran, analyst at Bernstein, wrote in a note.
Orsted Chief Executive Rasmus Errboe, tried to strike an upbeat tone, in the statement on Wednesday, to signal a return to normality for the company after the completion of a $9.4 billion capital raise last month.
Earlier this week, the company announced a $6.5 billion deal with Apollo Global Management Inc. for investment in Orsted’s Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm in the UK, its largest project under construction. The deal was critical for the company to prove that there’s still appetite from major investors to buy stakes in offshore wind farms.
Shares in Orsted rose as much as 3.5% Wednesday morning before paring gains. The company’s stock is down over 38% so far in 2025, driven lower by actions against the offshore wind sector in the US as well as a major drop when it announced the capital raise that diluted existing shareholders.
- Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and excluding new partnerships and cancellation fees expected to be in a range of 24 billion to 27 billion Danish kroner
- Orsted already slashed that guidance in September from a previously expected range of as much as 28 billion Danish kroner
- Earnings in third quarter were 3.1 billion Danish kroner, below analysts’ estimates of 4 billion Danish kroner
(Updates with details on earnings in fourth paragraph, analyst comment in sixth)
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