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Wind Power

Nordex grew rapidly in 2016

Nordex is a German company that designs, sells and manufactures wind turbines. The company's headquarters is located in the German city of Rostock while management is located in Hamburg. In 1995 Nordex was the first company to mass-produce a 1 MW turbine.

In 2016 the history of Nordex was marked by the takeover of Acciona Windpower [1] (AWP), a significant transaction that expanded its sales territory and allowed the Company to venture further into global growth markets. While AWP generated 70 percent of its revenue with projects in growth markets, about 80 percent of Nordex´s business activities focus on Europe. Together, the Nordex Group covers around 90 percent of the onshore wind markets. The diverse product portfolio of the Nordex Group now offers turbine systems for markets with limited land, and for regions with limited grid capacities. Nordex runs its own production in Germany, Spain, Brazil, India and the United States. It has its own technology centre for rotor blade development in Denmark. The Nordex Group has its global service network in more than 30 countries and has systems with a total capacity of 13 GW under contract.

According to the financial annual report of the Nordex Group, sales or the total revenue of the company rose by 40% to EUR 3.4 billion (2015: EUR 2.4 billion) in 2016, of which 1/5 is attributable to the consolidation of AWP. EBITDA accounted for 8.4% (2015: 7.5%), and increased by 56% from EUR 182.4 million in 2015 to EUR 285.5 million in 2016. Working capital ratio stood at 4.1% (2015: -1.2%), while the order book has redoubled.
Net consolidated profit from ordinary activity grew by 82.4% to EUR 95.4 million in 2016 compared to EUR 52.3 million in 2015. Accordingly, earnings per share increased to EUR 1.03 in 2016 compared to EUR 0.65 in 2015. At the end 2016 equity amounted to EUR 940 million, a 106% increase on the previous year (2015: EUR 455.6 million). Total assets rose in 2016 by 105% to EUR 2 994 million compared to EUR 1 460 million in 2015.

In 2016 there was a 33.6% increase of the order intake for the turbine business, it rose up to EUR 3 302.2 million (2015: EUR 2 470.9 million) mainly due to the AWP acquisition. Regionally, sales in Germany rose to EUR 1 115.8 million (2015: EUR 1 016 million), followed by the United States at EUR 319.2 million (2015: 255.5 million), Turkey at EUR 315.3 million (2015: EUR 118.8 million) and, for the first time in Nordex´ history, Brazil at EUR 283.1(2015: EUR 0.0 million).The United Kingdom was ranked 5th with EUR 246.6 million in 2016 compared to EUR 163.5 million in 2015.

Regionally, the share of orders from Europe fell to 61% (2015: 79%). Europe is still Nordex´s most important market. The domestic market of Germany accounted for 36% (2015: 37%), followed by Turkey at 7% (2015: 14%) and France at 6% (2015: 8%). The order intake was dominated by the demand for Gamma and Delta generation turbines. The North American share amounted to 17% in 2016 (2015: 10%), Latin America accounted for 17% spread over Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Peru and Brazil (2015: 10%).

In 2016, capital expenditure of the Nordex Group came to a total of EUR 102.4 million (2015: EUR 75 million), a 36% increase on the previous year. From this amount, intangible assets accounted for EUR 40.5 million in 2016 compared to EUR 35.4 million in 2015. The majority of this (EUR 33.8 million) was R&D expense (2015: EUR 31 million), a rise of 9% on the previous year, which shows that the Nordex Group is continuing to invest in innovation. The R&D expense of EUR 33.8 million was foreseen for the further development of the current Generation Delta wind turbine types N117 and N131.

The investments in property, plant and equipment were at EUR 62 million in 2016 compared to EUR 39.7 million in 2015, a rise of 56% on the previous year.

Goodwill amounted to EUR 547 million in 2016 compared to EUR 9.9 million in 2015. Such an increase came from the purchase price allocation for AWP.

[1] Acciona Windpower (AWP), a Spanish wind turbine manufacturer, was merged with the Nordex Group on 1 April 2016.