Germany - Nordex substantially more profitable in the first half of 2007

In the first half of 2007, the Nordex Group's revenues increased by 28 percent to EUR 323 million (previous year: EUR 252 million) thus living up to expectations. Non-German business accounted for roughly 82 percent of wind turbine revenues. New business grew at an even greater pace, with order intake rising by 71 percent to EUR 683 million (previous year: EUR 400 million). As a result, fixed and conditional orders climbed in value by 95 percent to EUR 1.7 billion (previous year: EUR 880 million). Further contracts have been signed of roughly EUR 470 million. All told, this is sufficient to ensure full capacity utilization until into 2009.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) doubled to EUR 15.3 million in the period under review (previous year: EUR 7.6 million). Accordingly, the return on sales widened from 3.0 percent to 4.7 percent, coming to 5.7 percent in the second quarter. This favorable performance was chiefly due to the execution of more profitable projects. This is also reflected in the cost of materials ratio, which dropped to 79 percent (previous year: 81 percent). Net income for the period surged by 268 percent to EUR 13.6 million (previous year: EUR 3.7 million), spurred by an improvement in net financial result thanks to interest income earned on existing bank balances (June 30, 2007: EUR 85 million). At the same time, the tax rate declined to 7.7 percent.

"With this favorable performance, we are proving once again that Nordex is able to harness the opportunities arising in the wind power market to grow profitably on a sustained basis. We are confident of achieving our targets for the year as a whole and beyond," says Thomas Richterich, CEO of Nordex AG.

Including the net income for the period, the equity ratio has widened again to 38 percent (previous year: 32 percent). Growth in operating business as well as difficult conditions in the sourcing market have necessitated greater capital commitments. Thus, inventories rose by 17 percent to EUR 165 million. Despite the drop in the advance payment ratio to 116 percent, the working capital ratio stood at 9.8 percent, i.e. at the lower end of the target corridor.

Turning to the second half of the year, further growth in business volumes is expected. Nordex continues to project full-year revenues of EUR 760-770 million for 2007 (previous year: EUR 514 million). The EBIT margin is expected to come to around 6 percent (previous year: 3.0 percent).