Nordex Shines With 2024 Financial Figures And Exceeds Margin Forecast
Hamburg, Germany - Wind turbine manufacturer Nordex has achieved all the targets set for the 2024 financial year. The company reports a significant increase in profitability, which is expected to continue in 2025. After an initial rise in the share price, Nordex shares fall in early trading.
Nordex in the black operationally in 2024
Nordex Group sales increased by 12.5 percent to EUR 7.3 billion in 2024 (2023: EUR 6.5 billion). Total Output, including changes in inventories, climbed by 7 percent to EUR 7.0 billion (2023: EUR 6.5 billion).
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) improved significantly to EUR 296 million in the 2024 reporting year (2023: EUR 2 million). This development corresponds to a margin of 4.1 percent (2023: 0 percent), which is slightly above the upper end of the forecast for 2024. The EBITDA margin improved sequentially throughout 2024, resulting in a margin of 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter (Q4/2023: 3.4 percent) and an absolute EBITDA of EUR 107 million (Q4/2023: EUR 69 million).
“Last year, we fully delivered on all our operational and financial promises, taking another significant step towards our medium-term profitability target. We achieved a record order intake in 2024, resulting in a very high order book. This success was driven by strong momentum in our service and project business,” says José Luis Blanco, CEO of the Nordex Group.
Global order intake increases: operating performance in the segments Wind Projects and Service segments
In the Projects segment, order intake from 24 countries amounted to 8.3 GW in the year under review, an increase of 13 percent compared to the previous year (7.4 GW). This corresponds to a total order value of EUR 7.5 billion (2023: EUR 6.2 billion) or an increase of 20 percent.
The Service segment performed even better. In this segment, the Nordex Group increased its order intake by 114 percent to EUR 1,981 million compared to EUR 924 million in the previous year 2023. This includes both service orders for new turbines and extensions of expired contracts.
At the end of 2024, the Nordex Group's order backlog amounted to EUR 12.8 billion (2023: EUR 10.5 billion), of which EUR 7.8 billion (2023: EUR 6.9 billion) was attributable to the project business and EUR 5.0 billion (2023: EUR 3.6 billion) to the service business.
Outlook 2025: sales growth and further increase in EBITDA margin
For the current year 2025, the Nordex Group expects consolidated sales of between EUR 7.4 and 7.9 billion and an EBITDA margin of between 5.0 and 7.0 percent. By the end of 2025, the Nordex Group plans to have a working capital ratio in relation to consolidated sales of below minus 9 percent. Around EUR 200 million is planned for investments.
In view of the positive development in 2024, the company is sticking to its medium-term target of an EBITDA margin of 8 percent. “The figures we present today clearly underline that we have achieved our goal to strengthen our financial position and are able to deliver a robust positive free cash flow,” says Ilya Hartmann, CFO of the Nordex Group.
José Luis Blanco underlines the continued positive outlook for the Nordex Group: “Looking ahead, we aim to further strengthen our market position, and we are on track to continuously improving our profitability, further increasing the company’s long-term value.”
Analysts with significantly higher price targets for Nordex stock
Nordex stock was only able to benefit from the figures for a short time in early trading and was trading at a discount of around 1.5 percent to EUR 12.60 at midday. Analysts are much more optimistic with their previous estimates for 2025, with Goldman Sachs giving a target price of EUR 20.10 (February 21, 2025), Jefferies' target price of EUR 18.00 (January 28, 2025) and Deutsche Bank Research's target price of EUR 19.00.
Source: IWR Online, 27 Feb 2025
