Danish offshore wind farm developer Orsted on Thursday reported a third-quarter core profit above forecasts, sending its shares up more than four per cent.
Orsted has expanded rapidly over the past decade, but more recently has faced higher costs from supply chain disruption and inflation, as well as regulatory challenges in the United States, where President Donald Trump has sought to halt developments.
Profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), excluding new partnerships and cancellation fees for July-September rose to DKK5.26 billion ($792.50 million) from DKK3.06 billion a year earlier, above an average forecast of DKK4.42 billion in a company-provided poll.
CEO Rasmus Errboe said volatility in European energy markets, such as soaring gas prices, impacted the investment climate for offshore wind in a positive way.
"Politically across Europe, the energy security agenda, which is also a sort of effect and related to, obviously, the volatility that you see in the energy prices, is a key driver also of the build-out of offshore wind," Errboe told reporters.
Orsted still expects a full-year core profit above DKK28 billion, but now sees gross investments of DKK45-50 billion, down from DKK50-55 billion, due to changes to the timing of payments for certain offshore wind construction projects.
The company flagged a non-cash impairment loss of DKK3.44 billion related to its US offshore projects due to increases in the long-dated US interest rate, in line with what analysts had expected ahead of the report.
Orsted announced the completion of its US offshore project Revolution Wind, in accordance with its previously given timeline.
(Reporting by Louise Rasmussen; editing by Terje Solsvik and Jason Neely)