COPENHAGEN, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Danish wind-turbine manufacturer Vestas reported a drop in operating profits for the second quarter of 2017 on Thursday, but maintained its projection for the full year.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the second quarter of 2017 fell 30 percent to 279 million euros (326 million U.S. dollars) euros, down from 399 million euros for the same period last year, Vestas said in a statement.
The decrease in EBIT was driven by lower gross profit and a 28-million-euro impairment of research and development building facilities, the company said.
The second-quarter revenue amounted to 2.206 billion euros, a decrease of 14 percent as compared to the year before. Despite the revenue shortfall in the second quarter, overall revenue for the first half of 2017 stood at 4.09 billion euros, representing a 2.0 percent rise year-on-year.
The intake of wind turbine orders was 2,667 megawatts in the second quarter and the value of order backlog amounted to 9.1 billion euros as of the end of June 2017.
Thus, the value of the combined backlog of wind turbine orders and service agreements stood at 20.2 billion euros, representing an increase of 2.1 billion euros from a year ago.
"In a changing market, Vestas delivered another solid quarter with healthy earnings and maintained our leadership position," said Vestas president and chief executive officer (CEO) Anders Runevad.
Vestas maintains its 2017 outlook on revenue of 9.25 billion euros to 10.25 billion euros and expects to achieve an EBIT margin before special items of 12 to 14 percent.
It also keeps guidance for total investments of approximately 350 million euros and free cash flow of a minimum of 700 million euros.
Vestas has installed 86 gigawatts (GW) on six continents and was servicing 71 GW across the globe at the end of June 2017.
