Energiekontor posts profit drop in H1 2024, maintains long-term growth

German wind and solar developer-operator Energiekontor AG (ETR:EKT) on Monday reported a mixed performance in the first half of 2024, with an after-tax profit sinking by 43.8% year-on-year, but kept its toned-down guidance for the full year and maintained growth forecast for 2023-2028.

The bottom line after taxes stood at EUR 11.8 million (USD 12.9m) at the end of June, compared to EUR 21.0 million in the same period a year ago. Revenues increased by 19.6% year-on-year to EUR 78.0 million, driven by higher external sales of the project development and sales segment. The external sales revenues of the power generation in group-owned wind and solar farms segment totalled EUR 41.8 million, coming in at slightly below the EUR 42.5 million generated in the year-ago period.

However, total income declined by 13.4% to EUR 95.7 million, mainly due to lower changes in inventories. Other financial figures such as operating income, EBITDA and EBIT also declined, leading to earnings before tax (EBT) at EUR 16.7 million, down by 39.9% year-on-year.

Energiekontor said it worked in a challenging market environment marked by, among others, a continued limited availability of wind turbines and other large components and long delivery times. In addition, the company may face possible delays in the expansion of the supra-regional grids in the UK.

The company expects these limitations to result in prolonged project realisation times.

“Energiekontor continues to assume that most of the projects currently under construction and the projects for which financial close is planned for 2024 will only be commissioned in the following two years. As a result, the earnings potential from these projects is not expected to be fully realised in the financial year and will largely be postponed until 2025 and 2026,” the German developer said.

Knowing that it will not be able to repeat and exceed the EBT of EUR 95.5 million generated in 2023, Energiekontor confirmed the full-year EBT target of EUR 30 million to EUR 70 million for 2024. Earnings recovery is seen in 2025 and 2026, with the company anticipating a significant increase as delayed projects come to fruition. It confirmed the outlook for 2028, aiming to post EBT of around EUR 120 million as part of its five-year growth strategy.

At the end of June, Energiekontor had 38 onshore wind and solar farms in its own portfolio, totalling 384 MW, most of it installed in Germany, with three wind farms in the UK and four wind farms in Portugal.

These wind and solar farms generated around 320 GWh of gross electricity during the first half of 2024, compared to 337 GWh in the same period the year prior.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.093)

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