Nordex Outlook Cautious - Supplementary Core Business of Green Hydrogen Buoyed

Hamburg, Germany - After a challenging year, wind turbine manufacturer Nordex expects a stronger second half in the current year 2023. Accordingly, the Nordex Management Board expects consolidated sales of between EUR 5.6 billion and EUR 6.1 billion in 2023 (2022: EUR 5.7 billion).

The EBITDA margin for 2023 is expected to be in a range between minus 2.0 and plus 3.0 percent (2022: minus 4.3 percent). Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for 2022 amounted to minus EUR 244.3 million.

Nordex stock on Friday initially fell to EUR 12.65 on Friday, but recovered significantly in the course of trading and subsequently climbed to EUR 13.85 at its peak. In the end, the stock exited trading at a price of EUR 13.34. Apparently disappointing at first glance was the fact that an operating loss is not ruled out for 2023.

Nordex then provided a positive surprise and share price fantasy with the announcement of two initiatives to supplement Nordex's core business. To this end, Nordex recently entered into two strategic joint ventures relating to the future field of green hydrogen. The first joint venture concerns the production of electrolyzers (Nordex Electrolyzers), while the second cooperation (Acciona - Nordex H2 S.L.) relates to the development of large-scale projects for the production of green hydrogen.

José Luis Blanco, CEO of Nordex Group, explains the rationale behind the company's hydrogen activities: "With two joint ventures, the Nordex Group is establishing a presence in the hydrogen value chain, while, in parallel, continuing the company’s strategy of focusing on a low risk profile."

Thanks to its own long-standing expertise in wind project development, the Nordex Group says it has already built up a promising portfolio of green hydrogen projects in interesting regions, for example in the United States and Latin America.

With a targeted renewable energy development pipeline of 50 GW, the Acciona-Nordex joint venture aims to develop projects capable of producing 0.5 million tons of green hydrogen annually within the next ten years. The first projects are expected to be ready for construction by 2027.

The second cooperation, "Nordex Electrolyzers," aims to develop, manufacture and market electrolyzers (hardware) with proprietary technology. Experts predict that demand for electrolyzers will increase from today's very low capacity to 400 GW by 2030.

Source: IWR Online, 03 Apr 2023