Ørsted publishes another text about its American export wind business

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The largest offshore wind producer has announced new information about its American business, in an effort to move away from the country’s troubles.

Ørsted announced losses totaling DKK12.1bn (£1.36bn) on Monday evening, blaming interest rates, supply challenges and “market uncertainty” affecting the value of its premiums. under the sea.

The announcement follows DKK28.4bn of limitations against the Danish company’s US portfolio by 2023, also blamed for rising interest rates and supply chain challenges, and may raise further questions about its strategy in the country.

It came hours after Donald Trump was inaugurated as President of the United States, pledging during his election campaign to stop offshore wind projects on “day one” of his presidency. .

In a press release on Monday, the White House said that Trump’s energy policies “will stop the leasing of large wind farms that degrade our natural resources and fail to serve American energy consumers”.

It also said Trump would withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement, signed in 2015 as part of a global effort to curb climate change.

Mads Nipper, chief executive, said the weakness was “very disappointing”, but the company remained “committed to the US market for a long time”.

He added: “We continue to focus on the challenges and uncertainties we face in the growing offshore industry in the new American market.”

Ørsted entered the US in 2018 as a pioneer in its offshore wind industry, but struggled, along with many of its peers, as interest rates rose and supply chains came under pressure following the Covid pandemic.

In November 2023, it said it was abandoning two projects off the coast of New Jersey, surprising shareholders with a DKK28.4bn write-down, which was higher than expected.

In an attempt to turn around the business, the company said last February that it was suspending its distribution, cutting up to 800 jobs, and withdrawing from the Norwegian, Spanish and Portuguese offshore wind markets in favor of of focusing on core areas.

In Monday’s announcement, Ørsted said that the increase in old US tariffs raised its cash price, which was DKK4.3bn of the total decrease of DKK12.1bn.

It added another DKK3.5bn due to “uncertainty in the market” affecting the value of several subsea leases, while the final DKK4.3bn covered delays in its Sunrise wind project Wind on the coast of New York. The project should now be up and running in the second half of 2027.

However, Ørsted said it would stick to its full-year operating profit guidance of DKK24.8bn for 2024. Its wind farms, both onshore and offshore, performed in line with expectations , it said. Revenue in 2023 was DKK79.3bn.

The company’s shares have fallen nearly 20 percent in the past 12 months, and are about 77 percent below their peak in January 2021 at the height of interest in the regional stock.