PNE AG: Expansion of internally operated projects to 500 MW by 2023

The PNE Group closed the 2019 fiscal year very successfully and reached the upper end of the guidance. Due to changed framework conditions and favourable financing options, the PNE Group will expand its own wind farm operations considerably in the future. The aim is to stabilise sales and earnings at a high level. 

For this reason, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board of PNE AG today decided not continue the envisaged sale of the wind farm portfolio 2020. The aim is to achieve the medium-term guidance to increase average EBIT by 30 to 50 percent until 2023 earlier. However, individual projects, particularly abroad, will still be marketed. 

Markus Lesser, CEO of PNE AG: "With the decision to strengthen our in-house wind farm operations, we are consistently implementing the new strategic orientation of the PNE Group. This is intended to further increase sales and earnings, as already envisaged in our strategy with the "Scale up" concept, and to reduce the usual fluctuations inherent in project development. This can now be realised earlier than originally planned. We will retain the wind farms that have been developed, built and already operated as part of the wind farm portfolio 2020 in our in-house operations, manage them ourselves and benefit from regular income from electricity generation." 

PNE currently operates wind farms with an installed nominal capacity of 130.1 MW itself. The plans are to expand the portfolio of internally operated projects, primarily in Germany, to up to 500 MW by the end of 2023. The basis for the expansion is the well-filled project pipeline, since PNE is currently developing national and international wind farms with a volume of more than 5,200 MW in various phases of project development. 

The results of the 2019 fiscal year and the Group's liquidity position at the end of 2019 of approx. euro 112 million contributed to the decision of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board. In 2019, the PNE Group generated EBITDA of approx. euro 31.6 million and EBIT of approx. euro 19.0 million. The guidance for Group EBITDA of euro 25 to 30 million and the guidance for Group EBIT of euro 15 to 20 million were achieved and, for EBITDA, slightly exceeded, in the 2019 fiscal year.