PNE AG achieved operational progress in the first nine months of 2019

The PNE Group, an internationally operating project development company, continued to develop further in the first nine months of the 2019 fiscal year, both in operational and in strategic terms. The Group has achieved remarkable successes both abroad and in the German domestic market. These are reflected in positive results. Accordingly, PNE is in a very good position in the markets. 

Operational progress

While the first two quarters of the year were marked by major sales successes, the focus in the third quarter was on the construction of the projects. The Company commissioned or started construction of wind farms with a capacity of approx. 404 MW. This is a tremendous achievement.

Four wind farm projects in Germany, France and Sweden with a total capacity of 72.5 MW (prior year: 37.5 MW) were completed and put into operation in the reporting period. At present, seven wind farm projects are under construction in Germany, Poland and Sweden with 92 wind power turbines and a total nominal capacity of 331.7 MW (prior year: 93.2 MW). Four of these projects (290.4 MW) have already been sold. PNE remains active for these wind farms as a service provider as part of construction management. With an expected investment volume of around euro 1.4 to 1.8 million per MW of installed nominal capacity, PNE has initiated investments of approx. euro 565 to 727 million (prior year: approx. euro 183 to 235 million) with these 404 MW.

Despite considerable delays in the approval process in Germany, PNE was able to successfully realise four projects with a total capacity of 37.5 MW in 2019 through tenders for wind energy projects. 

Wind farm portfolio is being extended

The Company has also made progress in setting up the "wind farm portfolio 2020", in which wind farms with a nominal capacity of up to 200 MW will be bundled. In the current year, the projects "Gerdau-Repowering" (21.6 MW, Lower Saxony) and "Schlenzer" (6.5 MW, Brandenburg) were commissioned for this portfolio. This means that wind farms with a capacity of 95.7 MW are already in operation (71.3 MW) or under construction ("Neuenwalde" wind farm, 7.2 MW, Lower Saxony, and "Kittlitz" wind farm, 17.2 MW, Brandenburg). Additional projects are at the approval stage at present. 

The photovoltaics pipeline is growing rapidly

As part of the strategic expansion of its business model, PNE is focusing more intensively on the project development of photovoltaic systems. In recent years, photovoltaic installations have become increasingly cost-effective and thus more marketable in the area of electricity generation. Numerous markets are currently being examined in detail. Particular attention will initially be paid to Germany, France, Romania and Italy as well as other international markets.

Progress with extension of international markets

As early as in the first quarter of 2019, PNE entered another international market: Panama. Five partially developed projects were taken over there, which are now being further managed and optimised. PNE opened an office for this purpose in Panama and sees good opportunities to enter into additional Latin American markets. 

Service business is making international headway

By concluding the first contracts for operational management of wind farms in France, Sweden and Poland, "energy consult", which is part of the PNE Group, succeeded in opening up new markets within a very short time. The PNE Group is thus significantly expanding its international business as a service provider. In total, PNE currently manages wind farms with a nominal capacity of more than 1,600 MW. 
 
In addition to the German market, "energy consult" is active in Italy, where it provides services for wind farms with a total nominal capacity of 122 MW. In France and Sweden, the enterprise has been managing wind power turbines with a total nominal capacity of 44.4 MW since the beginning of the year. At the end of the year, "energy consult" will also take over operational management of a further capacity of 52 MW in Poland. 

Sales successes reflected in the results of the first nine months

On the basis of these business developments, the Group generated in the reporting period sales revenues of euro 72.6 million (prior year: euro 39.9 million), total aggregate output of euro 98.7 million (prior year: euro 57.7 million), earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of euro 19.1 million (prior year: euro 10.6 million), operating profit (EBIT) of euro 9.9 million (prior year: euro 3.7 million) and undiluted earnings per share of euro -0.07 (prior year: euro -0.03). 

Markus Lesser, CEO, comments: "With these results, we are well on schedule for the year as a whole. Accordingly, we again confirm our goal of generating clearly positive EBITDA in the range of euro 25 to 30 million and EBIT in the range of euro 15 to 20 million within the Group in the entire year."