Orsted, the world's biggest offshore wind farm group, swung to a quarterly net loss of 1.70 billion Danish crowns ($265,50m), it said today, hit by US President Donald Trump's trade policies and resistance to renewable energy.
Orsted's shares have plummeted 85% from their 2021 peak, hit by soaring costs and supply chain disruptions, as well as challenges in the US where Trump sought to halt several ongoing developments and suspended new licensing.
Orsted saw impairment losses of 1.8 billion crowns in the third quarter.
"The negative development was driven by increased tariffs in the US and negative impact from the stop-work order on Revolution Wind, partly offset by decreasing interest rates," the company said in a statement.
The company's net loss for the July to September period was smaller than the average expectation of a 1.95 billion crowns deficit in a company-provided poll of analysts, but significabtly down from a year-ago profit of 5.17 billion crowns.
Its profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), excluding new partnerships and cancellation fees, came in at 3.06 billion crowns for the period, lagging an average poll forecast of 4 billion crowns.reserved.
Meanwhile, Orsted said it had agreed to sell a 50% stake in Britain's Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm for around 39 billion Danish crowns ($6.09 billion), widely regarded as a crucial move to prevent a crippling credit rating downgrade.
The stake in the £8.5 billion project was sold to New York-listed Apollo Global Management, which manages more than $800 billion in assets, leaving Orsted with 50% ownership.
"The transaction represents a key milestone in Orsted's funding plan and balances the key objectives for partnerships and divestments with an emphasis on capital management," Orsted said in a statement.
Apollo's investment includes a 50% stake and a commitment to fund 50% of the project's remaining construction costs.
"This is the latest large-scale transaction here in Europe where we are investing behind energy infrastructure, transition assets, AI and other key priorities," Apollo Partner and Co-Head of European Credit Leslie Mapondera said in a separate statement.
Earlier this year, Apollo said it would provide £4.5 billion in financing to support Britain's long-delayed Hinkley Point nuclear project.
Orsted in October raised $9.4 billion through a heavily discounted rights issue to shore up its balance sheet, and later announced it would cut about a quarter of its workforce by the end of 2027. Its shares are down 85% from their 2021 peak.
The 2.9-gigawatt Hornsea 3 project in the North Sea, expected to become the world's biggest offshore wind farm upon completion in 2027, will produce enough energy to power more than 3 million homes in Britain.
Orsted in May discontinued its Hornsea 4 project, citing steep supply chain costs, higher interest rates and increased execution risk, and said the cancellation would cost the company up to 5.5 billion Danish crowns.
