The world's leading turbine maker Vestas (VWS.CO) on Wednesday said it aims to turn a profit this year, despite a bigger than expected second quarter adjusted loss and its expectation supply chain disruptions would continue for the rest of 2023.
The Danish-listed company is struggling to deliver a backlog of projects from pandemic-hit years and to recover from supply chain issues and raw material prices.
But it hopes price increases for its turbines and easing cost pressures will soon improve results.
"Our eyes are fixed on turning a profit for the year. If that is to happen, it implies third and fourth quarter veer on the more positive side," CEO Henrik Andersen told Reuters.
"The order book we execute on changes quarter by quarter to the more positive because our pricing has changed quite a bit over the last two years," he said without specifying figures.
In a statement he said permitting and regulatory uncertainty were still an obstacle to speeding up the transition to low carbon energy and the company expected supply chain disruptions to continue throughout the second half.
The company maintained its full-year guidance, but reported a loss before interest, tax and speical items of 70 million euros ($77 million) against a year earlier 182 million loss and an average analyst forecast of a 62 million euro loss in a poll shared by the company.
"We knew this quarter would be weak, and it is," Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen told Reuters. "But within a fairly short time, we can expect a substantial boost in earnings," he added, referring to the higher prices charged by Vestas on new orders.
Shares in Vestas were flat on the Copenhagen blue chip index at market open.
($1 = 0.9112 euros)
